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Minor TV Mentions
The following is a list of Muppet Mentions made in TV shows outside of the Henson/Sesame fold, which are too brief or minor to constitute having their own page in the TV Mentions category. See also: Minor Movie Mentions. 2 Broke Girls The CBS series chronicles the lives of two waitresses, Max and Caroline, in their early twenties working together at a Brooklyn restaurant and dream of one day opening a cupcake shop for which they need to raise $250,000. Due to their low salaries, they can barely afford anything and must continually find ways to make ends meet. * In the episode "And Hoarder Culture," Caroline takes a temp job as a professional organizer from Craiglist, but doesn't realize she is cleaning a hoarder's apartment till she arrives at the place. When Caroline brings Max with her to the apartment, Max is excited about the hoarder's items. Then Caroline ask what pile of items are in the corner and Max replied, "It is either an old shag carpet or a masquerade of dead Muppets." *In the episode "And the Cronuts," Max and Caroline notice a bakery is successful because they sell a product called cronuts, a combination of croissant and doughnut. They decide to have someone buy the product from the bakery so Max and Caroline can add it to their cupcake shop's product line. When Caroline tells Max that their shop has a long line, Max worries about what will happen when they run out of cronuts: "I worked at Target the Christmas they ran out of Tickle Me Elmo and there was so much blood." ;Connections * Cedric the Entertainer played Darius in "And the Pre-Approved Credit Card" * Phill Lewis directed episodes. * Hal Linden played Lester in "And the New Lease on Life" * Lindsay Lohan played as Claire Guinness in "And the Wedding Cake Cake Cake" * Martha Stewart appeared in "And Martha Stewart Have a Ball" 21 Jump Street * In the season two episode "Christmas in Saigon," main character Sergeant Harry Truman Ioki, previously presumed to be a Japanese immigrant, is outed as a South Vietnamese refugee named Vinh Van Tran. An Ernie and Bert sketch is shown in one of a series of flashbacks as having been instrumental in teaching English to young Harry after his arrival in the states. ;Connections * Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played Wesley Williams in "Hi Mom" * Christina Applegate played Tina in "I'm OK - You Need Work" * Johnny Depp played Tom Hanson * Dom DeLuise played Uncle Nick in "Woolly Bullies" * Bridget Fonda played Molly 'Moho' Chapman in "Blinded by the Thousand Points of Light" * Jada Pinkett Smith played Nicole in "Homegirls" * Blair Underwood played Reginald Brooks in "Gotta Finish the Riff" 6teen An animated Canadian sitcom set in the fictional "Galleria Shopping Mall" and starring an ensemble cast of six sixteen-year-old friends as they explore their first part-time jobs and lives as teenagers. In episode, "Boo, Dude," Jen Masterson has to dress up as a pig for Halloween at her job and one guy says, "Yo Miss Piggy, digging the snout, man." According to Jim * In the season 8 episode "Two for the Money", Jim tells Cheryl that he took the twins to the art institute and mentions some exhibits they saw. Andy pulls Jim aside and asks him where he knows all that stuff from. Jim tells him that Elmo and Big Bird from Sesame Street went to the museum. ;Connections * Dan Aykroyd played Danny Michalski * Erik Estrada played himself * Brad Paisley played Chad * Kimberly Williams Paisley played Dana * Tara Strong voiced the crying babies in "Separate Ways" and "The Blankie" All That Nickelodeon sketch comedy show. In the pilot episode, a frog rapper (played by Kenan Thompson) is asked if Kermit is his father. In another episode, in a "Good Burger" sketch, recurring character Ed falls in love with a co-worker. The co-worker asks a customer "Isn't he cute?" and the customer says "Yeah, he should be a Muppet!" A.N.T. Farm A Disney Channel sitcom about the lives of kids, who are part of a high school program for advanced young adults. In the episode "bad romANTs," self-centered Lexi Reed makes it a mission to make it into the school newspaper. One of her attempts to to have her friend Paisley pretend to choke. She states she has food caught in her "Snuffleupagus." In "amusemANT," Paisley, Lexi and Olive compete in a doll beauty pageant, hosted by an aging puppet character Bernie, formally a character on the 70's childrens' show Poppyseed Place (a Sesame Street spoof). When Olive's talent portion results in a chemical explosion, he mentions he hasn't seen such a bomb since Cookie Monster's performance in The Color Purple. Antiques Roadshow An American show on PBS, based on a British program of the same name, the program has had one partially unintentional reference to Sesame Street. Rudy Franchi, of Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, wore an Oscar the Grouch tie in a 2001 appraisal, that didn't air until November 2008 episode "Politically Correct". Henson Alternative has parodied the format. Archer An animated sitcom on FX revolving around secret agent Sterling Archer and his cohorts at ISIS, a low-rent spy agency. In the season three episode "Bloody Ferlin," Archer's coworker, agent Ray Gillette, mentions that he once kept a diary with Miss Piggy on the cover. Gillette's brother claims that their father burnt the diary. Connections * Darren Criss voiced the Irish Mafia. * Tom Kane voiced Woodhouse in season five, when the show was known as Archer Vice. * Timothy Olyphant voiced Lucas Troy. * Burt Reynolds voiced himself in the season three episode "The Man from Jupiter." * Kristen Schaal voiced Tiff Tunt. * George Takei voiced Mr. Moto in the season three episode "Drift Problem." * Jeffrey Tambor voices recurring character Len Trexler, and Torvald Utne in the season one episode "Killing Utne." * Jessica Walter voices Malory Archer, head of ISIS and Sterling's mother. * Patrick Warburton voiced Rip Riley in the three-part Season three premiere "Heart of Archness." Awesomeness TV In the episode from July 29, 2013, two brothers want to know where babies come from. They "do like Elmo does and ask a baby." When they don't get an answer, one boy says, "Why does Elmo ask babies stuff? They never tell the answer." Awkward. An MTV sitcom about a high schooler named Jenna and her friends and enemies. In the episode "Knocker Nightmare," Jenna wears a green sling with googly eyes. At one point, she mentions that she has Elmo on her arm. Back To You * In the series pilot, Marsh McGinley recalls one wild time when he and Chuck Darling hung out with two skater girls with gorgeous legs, who were dressed up as characters on Sesame Street on Ice. Marsh recalled that Chuck banged Bert and Chuck replied, "That particular night was brought to you by the letter O." ;Connections * Ty Burrell played Gary Crezyzewski * Josh Gad played Ryan Church * Kelsey Grammer played Chuck Darling * Christopher Lloyd is one of the co-creator and executive producer of the show * Fred Willard played Marsh McGinley Beavis and Butt-head * During the music video, I Don't Think So by Dinosaur Jr, Beavis and Butt-head talk about how this music video relates to Sesame Street. Butt-Head mentions one of the band looks like Grover and Beavis starts to sing, "One of these things is not like the other/One of these things just doesn't, uh, belong...." Then Beavis says, "You know the guy that comes out, and he goes "Twelve chocolate cakes", and then he, like, falls on his butt, and the cakes spill all over the place? That was pretty cool." The duo then later notice that one of the chick puppets looks hot and Beavis said that she is one of the top three Muppets that he would do. Butt-Head then asks who else he would do. :Beavis: Well, Miss Piggy's kinda hot. :Butt-head: That fat pig? :Beavis: Shut up, Butt-head! I like 'em with a little meat on their bones. * During the music video, The Family Ghost by King Diamond, Beavis says that the lead singer looks like the Count. Butt-head agrees and does an imitation of Count as he counts four buttknockers with the trademark laugh. * During the music video, Mockingbirds by Grant Lee Buffalo, Butt-Head notice there are a lot of big Muppet-like birds there and then Beavis talks about Big Bird and how he never poops. ;Connections * Cloris Leachman voiced Old Woman in Beavis and Butt-head Do America * David Letterman voiced Mötley Crüe Roadie #1 - a.k.a. Butt-Head's Dad (credited as Earl Hofert) in Beavis and Butt-head Do America * Demi Moore voiced Dallas Grimes in Beavis and Butt-head Do America * Robert Stack voiced ATF Agent Flemming in Beavis and Butt-head Do America * Bruce Willis voiced Muddy Grimes in Beavis and Butt-head Do America Becker * In the episode, "Man Plans, God Laughs", John Becker's nurse and office manager, Margaret, is at home with the flu and Becker's other flaky nurse, Linda, is left in charge of the office. When the office is in chaos, Linda recommends Becker rename the exam rooms to A, B and C and place the patients according to the letter of their ailment. Becker then calls up Margaret to beg her to come back to the office by explaining to her, "She wants to bring the patients in alphabetically, Margaret. She's turning the place into Sesame Street." * In the episode, "Heart Breaker," Becker goes on a date with a woman who is younger than him. When his friends at Reggie's diner find out because Margaret called them, they made fun of him. Bob says, "So Becker's taking a walk down Sesame Street?" and Jake replies, "Looks like Oscar the Grouch has a girlfriend." * In the episode, "Really Good Advice," Becker plans a date with a woman name Beth and tells Reggie that they are going to meet tomorrow. Reggie tells Becker that today is Tuesday and tomorrow is Wednesday to make a point that Wednesday dates are pity dates. Becker replies, "Well thanks Big Bird. Maybe later we'll work on numbers." ;Connections * LeVar Burton played Mr. Haller in "Beckerethics" * Bill Capizzi played Mr. Capelli in "Pilot" and "Smoke'em If You Got 'Em" * Ted Danson played John Becker * Rhea Perlman played Dr. Simmons in "Psycho Therapy" * Richard Schiff played Berry in "Truth and Consequences" * Avery Schreiber played Mr. Perkins in "My Boyfriend's Back" * Dick Van Dyke played Fred Becker in "Becker the Elder" * Hattie Winston played Margaret Wyborn Being Erica In the third season premiere of the CBC drama series Being Erica, Julianne Giacomelli comments to Erica Strange about the gay village-area coffee shop Goblin's, then under renovation. Both Fraggle Rock and Being Erica were produced by CBC. : Erica: Whoa, what is going on here? : Julianne: Well it looks like Fraggle Rock, but it sounds like Queer as Folk. In a 2009 video blog, released online and on the first season DVD set, Erica is describing three odd wedding dress choices her sister has selected, including "number one, Big Bird chic. It's perfect." Ben 10: Ultimate Alien An animated series about a boy who can turn into aliens with a device called the Omnitrix. The ninth episode of the second season was titled "It's Not Easy Being Gwen". ;Connections * Michael Dorn voiced Viktor, Benvicktor * Rob Paulsen voiced Ditto * Tara Strong voiced Ben Tennyson, Upgrade, Benwolf, Lucy Tennyson, Ken Tennyson, and Sandra Tennyson. * Cree Summer voiced Frightwig Better Off Ted In the episode, "Change We Can't Believe In", Veronica (Portia de Rossi) calls scientists Phil (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem (Malcolm Barrett) "Bunsen" and "Beaker". The Bill Engvall Show In the episode "Car Trouble", Bryan Pearson (Skyler Gisondo) gets in a fight at school, and tries to get his parents to not call the school because they'll embarrass him. Lauren Pearson (Jennifer Lawrence) points out that he has an Elmo lunchbox and is worried that his mother will embarrass him. Bryan points out that "The Muppets are timeless!" Black Dynamite An animated series on Cartoon Network's swim block, based on the movie of the same name. The pilot episode, "Trouble on Puppet Street," features many references to Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. Black Dynamite and his crew are hired to take out That Frog Curtis, the main character of "The Puppet Show" (described by a government agent as a low-budget way to entertain kids while the school system was fledgling), as he is about to start a child robbery wave across the country. Arriving at Puppet Street, they blow up Crenshaw the Slime, a trash can-dwelling creature. They are soon captured by Curtis and his army (featuring spoofs of Ernie, Bert and Big Bird), but Curtis is quickly defeated. "The Puppet Show" seen in the episode mixes elements of The Muppet Show (such as the logo and theater setting), Sesame Street (a brownstone and garage are seen on stage) and other references (including a rainbow on stage). For the season one finale, there was a sequel episode, "That Seed of Kurtis, aka Fathers is Just Another Word for Motherf****r", where That Frog Curtis's son, Brother Minister That Bastard Kurtis, plans on using Black Dynamite's father Revenard Daddy Dynamite for revenge. Connections *Snoop Dogg voices Leroy Van Nuys *Arsenio Hall voices Tasty Freeze *Nicole Sullivan played Patricia Nixon in the 2009 film Bob's Burgers * In the episode "Bad Tina", Sexy Sesame Street and Erotic Muppets are among the books of romantic fan-fiction that Tina has written. * In the episode "Broadcast Wagstaff School News", Linda refers to her son, Gene -- having cut his hair and glued on a mustache in order to imitate the title character, his father -- as "my Muppet Baby Bobby." ;Connections *Kevin Kline plays Mr. Fischoeder *Kristen Schaal plays Louise *Sarah Silverman plays Ollie The Bob Newhart Show The second season episode "The Last TV Show" deals with psychologist Robert Hartley appearing on a public television show. His neighbor Howard Borden says, "Oh, I love public television. They have such interesting people on: William F. Buckley, David Susskind, The Muppets." ;Connections * Peter Bonerz played Jerry Robinson * H. B. Haggerty played the Hammer in "Ex-Con Job" * Mariette Hartley played Marilyn Dietz in "Have You Met Miss Dietz?" * Raul Julia played Greg Robinson in "Oh, Brother!" * Bruce Kirby played Dr. Klein in "Fit, Fat and Forty One" * Will Mackenzie played Larry Bondurant (1975-1977) and directed one episode * Penny Marshall played a stewardess in "Fly the Unfriendly Skies" and Miss Larson (1972-1973) * Pat Morita played the bartender in "Bob and Emily and Howard and Carol and Jerry" * Howard Morris played Shorty Vance in "Jerry's Retirement" * Bob Newhart played Dr. Robert Hartley * Tom Patchett wrote several episodes, served as executive producer and story consultant from the third season onward, and appeared as David Robbins in "Mister Emily Hartley" and Dave Death in "If Death Be My Destiny." * John Ritter played Dave in "Sorry, Wrong Mother" * Richard Schaal played Chuck Brock in "Goodnight Nancy" and Don in "By the Way.... You're Fired" and "Life Is a Hamburger" * Jay Tarses wrote several episodes, served as executive producer and story consultant from the third season onward, and appeared as a waiter in "Mister Emily Hartley" and "Enter Mrs. Peeper" * Fred Willard played John Tobin in "Tobin's Back in Town" * Henry Winkler played Miles Lascoe in "Clink Shrink" Bo' Selecta! The British show Bo' Selecta! has referenced The Muppets numerous times, especially in the third series premier in which celebrity stalker Avid Merrion gets his own TV show and promises it will be "Just like the Muppets!". Statler and Waldorf who rebut that it is not at all like The Muppets- "The Muppets dumps all over this dumps all over this shit!" The duo appear throughout the episode commenting on Avid's antics. File:Boselecta1.jpg|From season one episode 6 File:Boselecta2.jpg|Statler and Waldorf parody from season three Boston Legal * In the season two episode "Stick It," Paul Lewiston's daughter Rachel can be seen cleaning up her daughter's toys. Clearly visible in one shot is The Sesame Street Treasury Volume 8. * In the episode "Truly, Madly, Deeply," Zozo the Clown cites Sesame Street as an influential children's television program. ;Connections *Leigh-Allyn Baker played Frannie Huber in "Tortured Souls" * Candice Bergen played Shirley Schmidt * Corbin Bernsen played Eli Granger in "...There's Fire!" * Julie Bowen played Denise Bauer * Phyllis Diller played herself in "Brotherly Love" * Michael J. Fox played Daniel Post (2005-2006) * Ken Jeong played Coroner Myron Okubo in "The Innocent Man" * Larry King played himself in "Truly, Madly, Deeply" * Heather Locklear played Kelly Nolan in "The Black Widow" and "Schadenfreude" * Jane Lynch played Joanna Monroe * Michael McKean played Dwight Biddle in "Truly, Madly, Deeply" * Jenny O'Hara played Judge Kimberly Ohlund in "Squid Pro Quo" * Bernadette Peters played Judge Marianna Folger in "Guantanamo by the Bay" * Richard Portnow played Judge Peter Harding in four episodes * Carl Reiner played Milton Bombay in "Let Sales Ring" * Joan Rivers played herself in "Whose God Is It Anyway?" * Tom Selleck played Ivan Tiggs * William Shatner played Denny Crane * Nicole Sullivan played Joan Rubin in "...There's Fire!" * Meredith Vieira played herself in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" * Lisa Waltz played Dorothy Scanlon in "Trial of the Century" * Betty White played Catherine Piper Braingames An HBO children's series. In the game "Faces" in the pilot episode, a distorted image had two Fraggles Red and Mokey. In the game "Museum Misstakes" in the second episode, a 1663 Dutch family pic has a TV set with Cookie Monster. Brickleberry Animated series airing on Comedy Network since 2012. In the first episode, head ranger Woody Johnson recalls his former PTSD. A flashback cutaway is shown of him attempting suicide, with a gun in one hand and a Kermit puppet in the other. Bunheads In the season one finale, "A Nutcracker in Paradise," Weezer's cover of "Rainbow Connection" from The Green Album plays during Boo's speech to Carl and their dance. ;Connections *Sutton Foster plays Michelle California Dreams In the season 4 episode, "Two Too Much," Tiffani Smith introduces her date, Bruce, to her friend, Jake Sommers. Bruce replies that they only have a few minutes because they have expensive tickets to "Muppets on Ice." Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus are mentioned in dialogue. Cash Cab Cash Cab is a Discovery Channel television game show that takes place in a New York City taxi cab, where contestants must answer trivia questions for different amounts of money whilst trying to get to their destination without getting three wrong answers and getting kicked out. In one episode, a Red Light Challenge topic as to name the six Sesame Street Muppets that have appeared on the show since its start in 1969. The contestants won the challenge before time ran out. ;Errors *The episode mistakenly listed Mr. Snuffleupagus as a character that has appeared since 1969, when he has only been around since 1971. Castle * In the first season episode "Home Is Where The Heart Stops," Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) refers to the main suspect in a murder case as a "perp." Two assisting detectives ask why writers always call them that, and offer a list of other names real cops call them. Among them are several pop culture references including Destro (from G.I. Joe), Sleestacks (from Land of the Lost) and Skeksis. * In the fifth season episode "Under the Influence", Castle hypothesizes a number of situations by which someone might have acquired the nickname "Monster." When he sees it's just a kid, he remarks, "More like Cookie Monster." ;Connections * Lisa Waltz played Laurie Horn in "Hell Hath No Fury" Cheers A sitcom about a Boston bar, which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1993. *In the 1984 episode "I Call Your Name," Diane describes Sam as "a man whose idea of intellectual stimulation is to count along with Big Bird." *In the 1987 episode "A House Is Not a Home" Sam and Diane are hosting one last Christmas for the Miller family as they have bought their house. One of the kids gets a Cookie Monster plush. ;Connections * Dick Cavett played himself in "They Called Me Mayday" * Thomas Haden Church played Gordie Brown in "Death Takes a Holiday on Ice" * John Cleese played Dr. Simon Finch-Royce in "Simon Says" * Ted Danson played Sam Malone * Kelsey Grammer played Dr. Frasier Crane * Arsenio Hall played himself in "Where Nobody Knows Your Name" * Pat Hingle played Gus O'Malley in "The Last Picture Show" * Carol Kane played Amanda Boyer in "A Ditch in Time" * Christopher Lloyd played Phillip Semenko in "I'll Be Seeing You" * Bebe Neuwirth played Lilith Sternin * Rhea Perlman played Carla Tortelli * Markie Post played Heather Landon in "Just Three Friends" * Alex Trebek played himself in "What is... Cliff Clavin?" * George Wendt played Norm Peterson Chuck * On the third episode of Chuck, the title character's best friend and sister discuss Chuck's future: ::Morgan: You don't understand. He is a fragile little gelding. You know? Still trying to find his legs. The real world will crush him. ::Ellie: Do you know what a gelding is? ::Morgan: scoff It's that weird creature from The Dark Crystal. "Smells like gelding"... that guy. * In the third season episode "Chuck Versus the Mask," Chuck is looking for the antidote to a poison in one of several vases in a museum. He says to himself, "C'mon Chuck, one of these things is not like the others." * In "Chuck vs the Aisle of Terror" Ellie and her mom are shopping in a baby store where some Sesame Street dolls are on display. ;Connections *Chevy Chase played Ted Roark in three 2009 episodes *Udo Kier played Otto von Vogel in "Chuck Versus the Role Models" (2010) *Zachary Levi played main character Chuck Bartowski *Jenny McCarthy played Sylvia Arculin in "Chuck Versus the Suburbs" (2009) *Robert Picardo played Perseus in "Chuck Versus the Lethal Weapon" (2009) *Andy Richter played Brad White in "Chuck Versus the Suburbs" (2009) *Brian Thompson played Cliff in "Chuck Versus the Suburbs" (2009) *Fred Willard played Craig Turner in "Chuck Versus the Role Models" The Cleveland Show * In the fifth episode of the Family Guy spin-off, "Cleveland Junior's Cherry Bomb," depicts Cleveland and his son at a baseball game when the giant screen shows the "Kiss Cam." One of the couples making out is Ernie and Bert. * In the episode, "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Roberta," Cleveland asks his wife, Donna, to hand him a towel with a hood that makes him look like Cookie Monster. Donna gets a blue towel with Cookie Monster eyeballs on it. * In the episode, "Terry Unmarried", as Cleveland Junior walks to the bathroom, he scats to the Sesame Street cartoon: "Loaf of bread, container of milk, stick of butter...". * In the episode, "Brown Magic", Cleveland tells Rallo that he is just a prop and that nobody remembers Oscar the Grouch, but they do remember Caroll Spinney. *In the episode "American Prankster", Donna is taking away Rallo's toys, including a Tickle-me-Elmo doll. Later, Cleveland is seen playing in his bedroom with the same doll, but throws it away. *In the episode "When a Man (or a Freight Train) Loves His Cookie," as LeVar is singing to his wife, he says "As Cookie Monster so greatly put it, "C is for Cookie and that's good enough for me" ;Connections * Edward Asner voiced the Daily Splash Editor in "The Curious Case of Jr. Working at The Stool" * Jason Alexander voiced Saul Friedman in "Brotherly Love" * Seth Green voiced his Family Guy character Chris Griffin in various episodes and in "Our Gang." He also voiced Kurt Cobain in "Da Doggone Daddy-Daughter Dinner Dance." * Jane Lynch voiced Ms. Eck in "Love Rollercoaster" * Kevin Michael Richardson voices various characters. * Ashley Tisdale voiced Lacey Stapleton in "The Curious Case of Jr. Working at The Stool" * Danny Trejo voiced Danny Trejo in "Hot Cocoa Bang Bang" (2011) * Patrick Warburton voices Joe Swanson in various episodes. * Kanye West voices Kenny West * Will.i.am voices Bernard Click and Clack's As the Wrench Turns Satirical animated limited series aired on PBS in 2008, loosely inspired by NPR's Car Talk and featuring numerous jokes about public television and radio. In one episode, Big Bird and Cookie Monster beat up Click and Clack after their station fails to meet its fundraising goals. In the episode "Campaign," Sal gambles away Click and Clack's fundraising money on a bet on whether or not the number of the day on Sesame Street will be even. After she discovers it is even (4), she angrily comments, "The Count is killing me this month!" Comedy Central's Last Laugh 2005 Last Laugh 2005 was a TV special that aired on Comedy Central and opened with a number by William Shatner as The Devil. In a public service announcement sketch spoof concerning the possible threat of the Avian Flu, a red bird puppet named Burt Flu teaches viewers about the disease, how to avoid it, and what they should and shouldn't do (demonstrated by child actors and some adults) Burt then says that his brother "Big Bird" Flu will give out a list of more do's and don'ts. The camera cuts to a park where "Big Bird" Flu (full-body puppet like Big Bird of Sesame Street) is seen almost featherless, shaking, coughing and falling to the ground. Corner Gas Corner Gas is a Canadian TV show set in Dog River, Saskatchewan, which originally aired on CTV, and replays in weekday syndication on CTV2. In the episode "TV Free Dog River", Dog River is competing against another town for who survives not watching TV for one week. However, Oscar offers to people "You want some Muppets? Or how about The Flintstones? ;Connections *Eric Peterson played Oscar The Critic The Critic is an animated series that ran on ABC and FOX from 1994 to 1995 about a movie critic named Jay Sherman. *In an episode guest starring Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert as themselves, Sherman is seduced by the two for a position as their co-host on their own TV show. As Ebert thumbs through a photo album, he points out a picture of himself and Siskel from the year they went as Ernie and Bert for Halloween. ;Connections *Judd Apatow was a writer and producer for the show *Christine Cavanaugh voiced Marty Sherman *Margaret Cho appeared in the pilot episode *Judith Ivey voiced Eleanor Sherman *Jon Lovitz voiced Jay Sherman *Rhea Perlman voiced Ardeth *Gene Shalit voiced himself *Russi Taylor voiced Penny Tompkins Curb Your Enthusiasm An HBO comedy starring Larry David, executive producer of Seinfeld, playing a fictional version of himself, his life following the successful series, and the odd situations he gets himself into, often due to his social awkwardness. * “The Nanny From Hell” (Season 3, episode 4) Martine (Cheri Oteri), the nanny in the title, divulges she knows the secret about Susie Greene (Susie Essman). :Martine: Hey congratulations! :Susie: Congratulations on what, dear? :Martine: (whispers) On the baby. Congratulations. :Susie: How did you know about that? :Martine: (motions to Larry) Big Bird told me. * “The Grand Opening” (Season 3, episode 10) Larry has inadvertently broken both thumbs of food critic Andy Portico (Paul Wilson). Now both his hands are in casts. :Portico: I look like a fuckin’ Muppet. * “The Lefty Call” (Season 6, episode 4) Larry and Richard Lewis (himself) argue over a couple wanting more children. :Richard: Who are you to them how many kids to have? :Larry: She’s got nine kids. C’mon, that’s plenty! :Richard: She wants more children! :Larry: How many does she need?” :Richard: Who the fuck are you, the Messiah? The Count? ;Connections *Jason Alexander played himself in five episodes *Anne Bancroft played herself in "Opening Night" *Philip Baker Hall played Doctor Morrison in two episodes *Michael Bloomberg played himself in "Larry vs. Michael J. Fox" *Mel Brooks played himself in four episodes *Ted Danson played himself in 13 episodes *Madeleine Doherty played herself in "Opening Night" (2004) *Judah Friedlander played Donald in "The Blind Date" (2004) *Ricky Gervais played himself in "The Hero" *Harry Hamlin played Dino in "The Smiley Face" *Cheryl Hines plays Cheryl David *Michael J. Fox played himself in "Larry vs. Michael J. Fox" *Nathan Lane played himself in "Opening Night" (2004) *Julia Louis-Dreyfus played herself in eight episodes *Michael McKean played Matt Tessler in two episodes *Rosie O'Donnell played herself in four episodes *Michael Richards played himself in three episodes *Robert Smigel played Yari in "Mister Softee" *Mary Steenburgen played herself in five episodes *Ben Stiller played himself in four episodes *Rita Wilson played Anne Michaelson in "The Doll" (2001) *Jerry Seinfeld played himself in six episodes *Wanda Sykes played herself in nine episodes *Moon Unit Zappa played Haboos in "The Blind Date" (2004) Da Ali G Show In episode #4 of Season 1, Ali G conducts an interview with four media analysts. He mentions that he's learned a lot from watching Sesame Street and asks why there isn't a version of it for kids, oblivious that it's a kids' show to begin with. Dave's World * In the series pilot, Shel ask Beth if it is the breast that makes them good with kids. Kenny tried to bring up another subject relating to breast, but Dave tried to stop him from talking about it. Kenny replied back, "Oh I'm sorry. If they're not on a Muppet, you people aren't interested." * In the episode, "It's A Small Van After All," Dave tries to keep the family happy in the van ride to Walt Disney World. He mentions some CDs to listen to, including "Sing Along with Kermit." ;Connections * Patrick Warburton played Eric in the second season. Dead Like Me * In the pilot, George considers talking to a little girl before saving her soul. After asking her name, she thinks to herself, "I didn't know what to say after that. I mean, it's not like they cover this sort of thing on Sesame Street." * In the episode "Curious George", a photographer uses a Tutter puppet to try and make Reggie smile for a family photo. * In the same episode, George and Mason have the following exchange: :George: I was dreaming about frogs. :Mason: Real ones, or like Kermit? Degrassi: The Next Generation *In the episode "Ghost in the Machine, Pt. 2", Ashley Kerwin and Craig Manning are having a discussion about their rock band and fellow bandmembers. :Ashley: You know, you guys should try going a little more post-Emo. Still punk, but less mopey. :Craig: I don't think the other guys even know what regular Emo is. Spinner probably thinks it's a Muppet. *In the episode "Ladies' Night", Anya tricks Holly J. Sinclair into devouring a double chocolate chip cookie during a fast for charity, during which Holly is also secretly videotaped and shown to an auditorium. Later when Holly J. comes to speak in the auditorium, Anya introduces her as: "It's the Cookie Monster!" A student in the audience taunts in a gruff monstery voice, "Holly J. hungry!" Dexter *In the episode "Crocodile", Rita (Julie Benz) serves Dexter (Michael C. Hall) a plate of cookies and tells him that he is "snarfing them down like the Cookie Monster". ;Connections * John Lithgow played Arthur Mitchell * Jimmy Smits played ADA Miguel Prado * Malcolm-Jamal Warner played Rita's lawyer in "Seeing Red" Dexter's Laboratory Dexter's Laboratory originated as a part of Cartoon Network's What A Cartoon! show before becoming it's own series, which initially ran from 1996 to 2003. Puppet Pals Mitch and Clem, who visually resemble Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie and stand behind the traditional brick wall, star in a show-within-a-show featured primarily in The Justice Friends segments. The Puppet Pals have also been seen in live-action form in their own filler segments. They've also appeared on The Powerpuff Girls. ;Connections *Christine Cavanaugh was the original voice of Dexter. *Eddie Deezen voiced Mandark. *Dom DeLuise voiced Koosalagoopagoop in several episodes. *Rob Paulsen voiced Puppet Pal Mitch and other characters. *Paul Williams guest starred in the episode "Just an Old Fashioned Lab Song." Dharma and Greg *In the season 4 episode "Sleepless in San Francisco," Pete mentions his dad's favorite movie is The Muppets Take Manhattan. *In the season 5 episode "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's ... My Wife" Kitty hired a decorator to design Greg's office at his father's company. In one of the designs, a Kermit telephone is on Greg's desk. When the phone rings, Edward says, "Your frog's ringing." ;Connections * Edward Asner played Earl Tucker * Dick Clark appeared as himself * Paul Dooley played Judge Harper * Mimi Kennedy played Abby O'Neil * k.d. lang appeared as herself * Jessica Lundy played Patty * Kevin Nealon played Mr. Clayborn * Stuart Pankin played Mr. Gottlieb and Rabbi Mutchnik * Penn and Teller played a pimp and Mr. Boots * Yeardley Smith played Marlene * Kevin Sorbo played Charlie * Florence Stanley played Rose Hoffman * Ellis E. Williams played Al in "Hell to the Chief" (2000) Diagnosis Murder In the second part of the fifth season episode "Retribution", Canin is counting backwards when Steve surprises him. "I guess watching Sesame Street finally paid off for you, Canin. You count real pretty." Diff'rent Strokes In the 1979 episode "Arnold's Hero", when Arnold's adopted father Mr. Drummond informs Arnold that he won't be able to meet Muhammad Ali as promised, he says that he'll make it up to him by taking him "to see the Muppet film, for the twelfth time." ;Connections * Dabney Coleman played Fred Tanner in "Arnold's Girlfriend" * Whitman Mayo played Jethro Simpson "The Adoption" (1979) * Edie McClurg played Betty in "Arnold the Entrepeneur" * Charlotte Rae played Mrs. Edna Garrett (1978-1979) Dollhouse * In the tenth episode of the first season, "Haunted": :Jocelyn Bashford: crying God, I'm so emo. :Margaret Bashford: I have to say, there's a part of me that's not sad to see someone mourning my friend. :Jocelyn: Is that what this is? :Margaret: You lost your mother. It's only natural you'd be so elmo. :Jocelyn: Emo. :Margaret: That's not a word, sweetie. * In the first episode of the second season, "Vows": :wakes up Topher by sexually seducing him :Topher Brink: What the hell? Are you drunk? :Claire Saunders: I'm just trying to be my best. :Topher: Whoah, I don't want your best. :Claire: his arousal Well, I think you do. :Topher: his crotch That is the minority vote. And you tricked it. Okay? A guy's asleep... could'a been Fozzie Bear and it would have... :Topher: gestures :Topher: Not that I think about Fozzie Bear. ;Connections * Jane Espenson wrote two episodes and served as Consulting Producer Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 *In episode 6, "It's Just Sex", June donates some stuff of Chloe's to the rummage sale, and the woman at the desk finds love letters from a celebrity and says, "I had a suitor myself - Frederick Spitz." When June looks puzzled, she says, "The famous puppeteer. His hand manipulated a Muppet for 40 years." *In episode 13, "Sexy People," Chloe states that if People put Fozzie Bear on the cover, June would find him sexy (since she follows every "Sexiest Man Alive" issue). ;Connections *James van der Beek plays a fictionalized version of himself Dragon's Den This reality show format, which originated in Japan, has entrepreneurs try to get a deal from up to five investors for a percentage of their company. This format has been exported to many countries, including the United States series Shark Tank on ABC. *On the episode for December 11th, 2013 for Dragon's Den Canada, Canadian Investor Kevin O'Leary is holding an Oscar the Grouch t-shirt. The Drew Carey Show In the season six episode "Drew Pops Something on Kate," Drew has lost his job and is unable to make payments on his engagement ring. He tells his friends Lewis and Oswald, "All Kate needs to see is me drinking a beer every morning and watching Sesame Street. Nothing like a drunk guy in his underwear singing about the letter E." ;Connections *Craig Ferguson played Mr. Wick *Caroline Rhea played Bonnie *Penn and Teller appeared in "Drew Meets Lawyers" *"Weird Al" Yankovic appeared as himself in "Drew Between a Rock and a Hard Place" Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist In the episode "Pretzelkins" Ben is shown laying on his bed, watching "Sesame Street". The clip is very brief, showing Bert and Ernie on the television screen. Image:DSC01809.JPG ;Connections *Sandra Bernhard played Sandra Eek! the Cat *In the episode "Eek vs. The Flying Saucers," Eek begs a race of aliens not to blow up the Earth, listing a large amount of reasons, including the Muppets. *In the fifth season episode "The FugEEKtive", America's Most Wanted searches for a missing Sharky. John Walsh, playing himself in a cameo, introduces Weird Al Yankovic, who has footage of Sharky filmed during his music video "Peppermint Twister". In one shot, Sharky is clearly visible among a kickline of dancing tornadoes. Weird Al narrates: "If you look close...well, to quote a famous educational show that is also heavily copyrighted, one of these things is not like the others." During Al's video, a knockoff instrumental version of the Sesame Street theme song is played. Eureka * The 12th episode of season 3 is titled "It's Not Easy Being Green." After members of a bowling team are turned green as a prank by the opposing team, Tess Fontana says that it's a pretty color. Sheriff Jack Carter replies, "Yeah, if you're a Muppet." Later during an argument, a bowler calls one of his green opponents, Kermit. ;Connections *Colin Foo played a retired scientist in "Dr. Nobel" (2006) *Matt Frewer played Jim Taggart (2006-2007, 2009) Everwood A television drama that ran on the WB network from 2002 to 2006. In the episode "The Great Doctor Brown," Amy Abbott reveals to Ephram Brown the origin of her unusual nickname. :Amy: Grover. :Ephram: Grover? :Amy: It's my nickname. I always loved Grover as a kid. I know for most kids it's all Winnie the Pooh and Hello Kitty, occasionally Strawberry Shortcake, but for me, life was about a little blue Muppet named Grover. :Ephram: Well, Grover was a very underrated Muppet. In the episode "The Reflex," Hannah Rogers and Dr. Harold Abbott comment on a picture in the Abbott family photo album. :Hannah: Is that Bright wearing Muppet slippers? :Dr. Abbott: Ah, yes. Bright was oddly bewitched by Miss Piggy. And Amy simply would not remove her Fozzie Bears for all the tea in China. Everybody Hates Chris Everybody Hates Chris is a sitcom narrated by and loosely based on the life of Chris Rock. In episode 4.08 (entitled "Everybody Hates Big Bird"), Chris begins dating a tall girl in class who has been dubbed "Big Bird" by others at school. The episode includes background music similar to the Sesame Street theme, and a scene in which members of the football team mock the couple: :Football Player #1: Hey, it's Big Bird! :Football Player #2: Hey, where's Bert and Ernie? :FP #1: (to Chris) I guess that makes you . . . Snuffleupagus? :FP #2: No, it makes him Roosevelt Franklin! :FP #1: Cookie? :Both: COOKIE! When she breaks up with him, the narrator says "Tonight's episode was brought to you by the letters D, A, M and N!" ;Connections *Jason Alexander played Principal Edwards in "Everybody Hates the Buddy System" (2006) and "Everybody Hates Snow Day" (2007) *Debbie Allen played a mother in "Everybody Hates Elections" (2006) and a gun woman in "Everybody Hates Minimum Wage" (2007) *Wayne Brady played Louis in "Everybody Hates Thanksgiving" (2006) and "Everybody Hates the Buddy System" (2008) *Terry Crews played Julius Rock (2005–2009) *Whoopi Goldberg played Louise in "Everybody Hates Rejection" and "Everybody Hates a Liar" (2006) *Kadeem Hardison played the judge in "Everybody Hates Driving" (2007) and "Everybody Hates PSATs" (2009) *Steve Landesberg played Mr. Levine in "Everybody Hates Mr. Levine" (2009) *Chris Rock voices the narrator and played Mr. Abbott in "Everybody Hates the Guidance Counselor" (2007) *Tyler James Williams plays Chris Everybody Loves Raymond *In the season 4 episode "Prodigal Son," Raymond tells Debra about how he is a good person and that he doesn't have to go to church on Sunday morning. He replies he treats people normal and gives an example of a plumber he hired with a big eye. Raymond said he would treat the plumber normal, but other people would make fun of the plumber and call him, "Big Muppet-Eye Guy." *In the season 4 episode "Bad Moon Rising," Raymond secretly recorded Debra yelling at him with a tape recorder. After playing the tape recorder and making Debra cried, Raymond tries to cheer up Debra. He tells her that when he first heard himself in a radio interview, his voice sounds like Snuffleupagus. ;Connections * Peter Boyle played Frank * Dan Castellaneta played Brian Trenberth in "T-Ball" and Coach Brian in "It's Supposed To Be Fun." * Charles Durning played Father Hubley * Brad Garrett played Robert * Gary Halvorson directed episodes of the series * Kevin James played Kevin Daniels and co-wrote the episode "Golf" * Ray Romano played Raymond and was a writer for the series. * Doris Roberts played Marie * Sherri Shepherd played Judy Potter * Jean Stapleton played Alda in "I Wish I Were Gus" * Fred Willard played Hank MacDougall Extras A British sitcom about film extras, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. In episode 2.4, Darren Lamb and Barry discuss Crazy Frog. :Darren: I'd have thought he's probably the second-richest frog in the world, after Kermit. :Barry: Kermit, yeah! There was his nephew, Robin... :Darren: Ah, Robin was good. :Barry: Looked set to take over the empire for a while, didn't he. :Darren: Oh yeah, he was a very good actor, and singer. :Barry: "Halfway Up the Stairs". :Darren: Good song. The Fairly OddParents An animated series shown on Nickelodeon. In the made-for-TV movie "Channel Chasers" one of the TV shows is entitled "Poppyseed Avenue," a parody of Sesame Street. A puppet version of Vicky walks up to a brick wall and says "Today's show is brought to you by the letter 'V'." (She holds up a letter 'V' '') She runs into a fake TV and jumps through the screen. Then, puppets of Timmy, his adult form, Cosmo, and Wanda walk up to the wall. Timmy and his adult form walk towards the TV. Cosmo looks at Wanda and blurts out, "I've never ''felt more alive. Get it? Felt!" They all jump through the TV. In another episode, the town baseball team, The Pirates, is playing, and a real pirate is running around saying nothing but "Arrrr." He passes two Sesame Street type monsters who are holding up the letters Q and R. Fairly OddParents Monster Pirates 2.jpg Fairly OddParents Monster Pirates 1.jpg ;Connections * Jason Alexander portrayed the live-action version of Cosmo in A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! * Alec Baldwin voiced Future Timmy in "Channel Chasers" * Gilbert Gottfried voiced Dr. Bender and Wendell * Cheryl Hines portrayed the live-action version of Wanda in A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! * Randy Jackson provided Poof's speaking voice at the end of A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! * Chris Kirkpatrick voiced Chip Skylark * Jay Leno voiced the Crimson Chin and the Nega Chin * Rob Paulsen voiced Mark Chang, King Grippulon, Bucky McBadbat and Happy Peppy Gary * Tony Sirico voiced Big Daddy * Ben Stein voiced The Pixies * Tara Strong voiced Timmy Turner and Poof * Frank Welker voiced Doidle Fish Police In the first episode of this short-lived 1992 prime-time cartoon, Inspector Gil tells waitress Pearl "You know how I feel about you" and winds up repeating "How..." when at a loss for words. Pearl asks why he talks like that, and Gil retorts that "all the great couples talk like that... uh, Fred and Wilma, Kermit and Miss Piggy, Rocky and Bullwinkle..." ;Connections *Edward Asner voiced Chief Abalone *Tim Curry voiced Sharkster *Buddy Hackett voiced Crabby the cabbie *Don Knotts voiced Mr. Lichen in "The Two Gils" *Megan Mullally voiced Pearl *Rob Paulsen voiced Richie in "No Way to Treat a Fillet'dy" *John Ritter voiced Inspector Gil *Sally Struthers voiced Shelly in "Beauty's Only Fin Deep" *Frank Welker voiced Mussles Marinara and Doc Croaker *Jonathan Winters voiced Mayor Cod FlashForward * The second episode of the first season "White to Play," features a Kermit pillow in the little girl's bedroom. * The same pillow appeared again in the sixth episode, "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps." The Flight of the Conchords In the episode "Bowie", Bret has visions in which he receives advice from various incarnations of David Bowie. The third and final Bowie is Jareth from Labyrinth. Connections * James Bobin directed, produced and wrote the show * Sutton Foster played Coco * Judah Friedlander played Isabella on "Sally " * Bret McKenzie played Bret and wrote and produce the series and the music * Kristen Schaal played Mel Frasier * In the third season episode "Look Before You Leap," Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) and his producer Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin) are volunteering at a PBS pledge driver. Roz, who is answering telephones, remarks (apparently to a small child) "No, Lamb Chop's not here. Big Bird isn't here either. What are you doing up so late? Oh. Do you have your mommy's credit card handy?" * In the seventh season episode "The Dark Side of the Moon," Daphne complains she is overworked, saying that her boss, Frasier, "keeps her in stitches," to which he responds "Wocka Wocka!" * In the eleventh season episode "Caught in the Act," a copy of I Like School is seen on the shelf in the bookstore. ;Connections * Jason Biggs played Dr. Hauck in the episode "Goodnight, Seattle" * Matthew Broderick voiced Mark in the episode "She's the Boss" (1995) * Blair Brown played Jill in the episode "Shrink Rap" (1995) * Mel Brooks played Tom in the episode "Miracle on Third or Fourth Street" (1993) * Dan Castellaneta played Brad in the episode "Maris Returns" (2003) * Laura Dern played June in "Sleeping with the Enemy" (1995) * David Hyde Pierce played Dr. Niles Crane * Judith Ivey voiced Lorraine in "I Hate Frasier Crane" (1993) * James Earl Jones played Norman Royster in the episode "Roz's Krantz & Gouldenstein Are Dead" (1997) * Nathan Lane played Phil in "Fool Me Once, Shame on You, Fool Me Twice..." (1995) * Jane Lynch played Cynthia in "A Lilith Thanksgiving" (1996) * William H. Macy played Ralph in "Good Samaritan" (1999) * Virginia Madsen played Cassandra Stone * Brian Stokes Mitchell played Cam Winston in multiple episodes * Megan Mullally played Beth Armstrong in "Four for the Seesaw" (1997) * Brittany Murphy played Olsen in "Give Him the Chair!" (1994) * Rhea Perlman played Carla Tortelli LeBec in "Cheerful Goodbyes (2002) * Ben Stiller played Barry in "Miracle on Third or Fourth Street" (1993) * Lisa Waltz played Tricia in two episodes * Wendy Wasserstein voiced Linda in "Head Game" (1996) * Rita Wilson played Hester Crane Freaks and Geeks Freaks and Geeks aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season, and was set in the early 1980s. In the episode "Girlfriends and Boyfriends," Cindy Sanders says to Bill Haverchuck, "Well, I don't really watch TV. Except for The Muppet Show." Cindy also keeps a copy of Miss Piggy's Guide to Life in her bedroom, which Bill peruses. Later, Bill insists Cindy's abnormal since "she eats carrot sticks and likes Miss Piggy." His friend Sam Weir rebuffs him with "So what, the Muppets are cool." Bill: "The Swedish Chef is kind of cool, but Miss Piggy's lame." Neal Schweiber chimes in, "Look, Professor Honeydew is hysterical!" ;Connections * Judd Apatow produced, wrote six episodes, and directed three * Joe Flaherty played Harold Weir * Rashida Jones played Karen in "Kim Kelly Is My Friend" * Ken Kwapis directed two episodes * Jarrett Lennon played Colin in three episodes * Sam McMurray played Dr. Vic Schweiber in three episodes * Leslie Mann played Miss Foote in "Chokin' and Tokin'" * Seth Rogen played Ken Miller * Jason Schwartzman played Howie Gelfand in "carded and Discarded" * Jason Segel played Nick Andopolis * Ben Stiller played Agent Meara in "The Little Things" Fringe * In the first season episode "Unleashed," Walter Bishop describes the animal characteristics that might have been involved in the death of an activist. His son Peter, attuned to his father's eccentricities, quips to investigating agent Olivia Dunham that they're looking for Big Bird. * From the second season episode "Momentum Deferred": :Rebecca Kibner: After awhile, it wasn't just during the experiments. I would see their faces in front of me. They seemed to have a certain glow about them. :Peter: The shapeshifters? :Rebecca Kibner: Mm-hm. It took me a year or two to really understand it. But I realized that I was recognizing people that didn't belong. Huh, you know, like that children's song. One of these things is not like the other. :Walter: One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong. Sesame Street. :Rebecca Kibner: Yes, that's it. * From the third season episode "Stowaway": :Lincoln: (looking at a book) One of these things is not like the others. :Peter: Hm? :Lincoln: You never watched Sesame Street? ;Connections * Carlo Alban played an FBI tech in "The Dreamscape" * Blair Brown played Nina Sharp * Michael Cerveris played September * Michael Giacchino scored the series * Joshua Jackson played Peter Bishop * Leonard Nimoy played William Bell Ghostwriter Ghostwriter was a CTW show which aired on PBS. Focusing on a group of young detectives who work with a ghost (who manifests by rearranging words and writing), most stories were serialized in four or five parts. In the first season story "Building Bridges", the 1992-1998 Sesame Street theme and the cold open for Episode 3092 can be heard in the background when Rob visits Victor's home. In the second season story "Just in Time", when Jamal's grandmother asks Alex if he'd like to stay for lunch, he replies "Is the sky blue? Do birds sing? Is Sesame a Street?" ;Connections *Blaze Berdahl played Lenni Frazier *Fran Brill played Calvin Ferguson's mother *Samuel L. Jackson played Jamal Jenkins' father *Jeremy Miller played Craig Mitchell The Goldbergs The 2013 ABC sitcom narrated by Patton Oswalt features Fraggle Rock puppets in two scenes from the episode "You Opened the Door". The dad uses Mokey and Boober puppets in an attempt to teach his son about sex. The puppets appear later in the episode when the dad is sitting on the porch thinking about his failures. The Goodies A surreal sitcom broadcast by the BBC from 1970 to 1980, and by ITV from 1981 to 1982. It starred Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden. *In the 1977 episode "Earthanasia" (sometimes called "The End of the World Show"), after the Goodies learn of the world's impending destruction, Tim laments that the Muppets will have to go as well, and that he hopes they won't suffer. Graeme then informs him that all the Muppets are puppets, demonstrating with impersonations of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Statler and Waldorf and Robin the Frog singing "Halfway Down the Stairs" Growing Pains A sitcom that ran on ABC from 1985-1992. In the episode "Feet of Clay", Ben Seaver finds out that his favorite rock star isn't such a nice guy after meeting him, and decides to stop being a fan. At one point, his father, Jason compares this to the time when Ben learned that Kermit the Frog isn't real. Ben said that because of that he couldn't get himself to watch Sesame Street for awhile. ;Connections *Kirk Cameron played Mike Seaver. *Jennie Garth played Denise in "Ben and Mike's Excellent Adventure" (1989) *Tracey Gold played Carol Seaver. *Jeremy Miller played Ben Seaver. Heroes When Claire researches her birth parents in the first season episode "The Fix," she and her friend Zach find a newspaper article from Kermit, Texas. When Zach wonders why that sounds so familiar, Claire replies, "`Cuz of the frog?" ;Connections * Kristen Bell played Elle Bishop in twelve episodes * Eugene Byrd played Nathan's campaign manager in four episodes * Jesse Corti played the LAPD police captain in "The Fix" * Christopher Eccleston played Claude in five episodes * Stana Katic played Hana Gitelman in two episodes * Stan Lee played the bus driver in "Unexpected" * Hayden Panettiere plays Claire Bennet * Zachary Quinto played Sylar * Eric Roberts played Thompson in five episodes * Richard Roundtree played Charles Deveaux in four episodes * George Takei played Kaito Nakamura Histeria! *In the episode "Megalomaniacs", after Froggo introduces Julius Caesar for the "Word of the Day" sketch, Caesar responds to his introduction by saying "Thanks, Kermit." *In the episode "Presidential People" during the "Ask me if I care" segment, Toast interviews Lyndon B. Johnson and Lydia Karaoke interrupts half-way to comment on Johnson's achievement of creating public television. Toast replies by taking offense at the fact that Johnson was the one who gave them "those boring English dudes and those tickle me spaz puppets". ;Connections * Laraine Newman voiced Miss Information and Charity Bazaar * Rob Paulsen voiced Mr. Smartypants and Sammy Melman * Cree Summer voiced Aka Pella * Frank Welker voiced Father Time, Fetch, and Pule Houser Hollywood Game Night In the premiere episode, the second game was a charades-based game in which one word clues can be used. The first answer was "Cookie Monster", but partcipant Daniel Dae Kim accidentally says "Cookies" in Cookie Monster style. On the August 29th episode, one of the games was to put pictures of a certain theme in chronological order. One of the themes was toys, and one of the pictures was a Tickle-me-Elmo doll. ;Connections Jane Lynch hosts the show. Hope and Faith * In Season 3, Hope gets mad at Charley for letting Justin watch The Exorcist, and states that he still has nightmares from Elmo In Grouchland. ;Connections *Lynda Carter played Summer *Kathie Lee Gifford played Marge *Susan Lucci played Jacqueline Karr *Jenny McCarthy played Mandi *Andrea Martin played Madame Elizabeth *Regis Philbin played Handsome Hal *Kelly Ripa played Faith Fairfield Hot in Cleveland * In the first season episode "Good Neighbors," Elka comes back to the house and the ladies find out she changed the color of her hair to red. Elka says she found the picture in a magazine to show her stylist. Joy asks if the picture was Elmo. *In the second season episode "I Love Lucci: Part Two," Victoria refers to Susan Lucci's hand in the following way: "I can still feel that little Muppet hand on my mouth." ;Connections * Edward Asner played Jameson in "Rubber Ball" * Roger Bart played a Jersey Boys cast member in "Claus, Tails & High Pitched Males: Birthdates 3" * Carol Burnett played Penny in "Canoga Falls" * Sandra Bernhard played Caroline's lover in "Beards" * Kristin Chenoweth played Courtney in "The Gateway Friend" * Tim Conway played Nick in "It's Not That Complicated" and "Canoga Falls" * Cedric the Entertainer played Reverend Boyd in "Bridezelka" and in the spin-off The Soul Man. * Craig Ferguson played Simon in "The Man That Got Away" * Paul Dooley played Santa Claus in "Claus, Tails & High Pitched Males: Birthdates 3" * Jesse Tyler Ferguson played Wes in "Love is All Around" * Bonnie Franklin played Agnieszka in "Bad Bromance" * Melanie Griffith played herself in "Sisterhood of the Traveling SPANX" * George Hamilton played Robin in "Love Is All Around" * Valerie Harper played Angie in "Love Is All Around" * Sean Hayes is executive producer for the series and played a self-centered hand model in "One Thing or a Mother" * Joe Jonas played Melanie's secretive son Will in "Good Luck Faking the Goiter" and "Love is Blind" * Jimmy Kimmel played himself in "I Love Lucci: Part One" * Cloris Leachman played Peg in "Love Is All Around" * Hal Linden played Alex Chase in "Meet the Parents" * Heather Locklear played Chloe in three episodes * Jon Lovitz played Artie * Susan Lucci played herself in multiple guest appearances * Mary Tyler Moore played Diane in "Free Elka" and "Love Is All Around" * Kevin Nealon played George in Season 3 * Rhea Perlman played the lazy housekeeper in "Everything Goes Better With Vampires" * Regis Philbin played Pierre in two episodes * Carl Reiner played Carl and Max in multiple guest appearances * Andy Richter played Melanie's former priest in "Claus, Tails & High Pitched Males: Birthdates 3" * Don Rickles played Bobby in "Elka's Wedding" and "Elka's Choice" * Joan Rivers played Elka's twin sister in "Bye George, I Think He's Got It!" * Doris Roberts played Elka's old friend in "Dancing Queens" * Amy Sedaris played Heather in two episodes * Sherri Shepherd played Judge Lesser in "Hot for the Lawyer" * Fred Willard played Doctor Hill in "A Box Full of Puppies" * Betty White plays series regular Elka Ostrovsky House of Cards The sixth episode of the Netflix original series features a CNN debate between Frank Underwood and Marty Spinella that devolves into a metaphor about vowels, which Spinella compares to Sesame Street. Hustle The fourth episode of the BBC series features Robert Vaughn's character standing in front of a store with a Tutter doll in the window display. iCarly In the crossover with sister show Victorious called "iParty with Victorious", Sam Puckett (Jennette McCurdy) insults a ventriloquist dummy named Rex Powers during a rap scene by calling him "a rejected Muppet." Connections *Jack Black played Aspartamay in the episode "iStart a Fanwar." *Jimmy Fallon appeared in "iShock America." *Tina Fey appeared in "iShock America." *Jane Lynch played Sam Puckett's mother Pam in "iSam's Mom." *Michelle Obama guest starred as herself in "iMeet the First Lady." *Jim Parsons played Caleb in "iLost My Mind." *The Roots appeared in "iShock America." *Emma Stone made a cameo in "iFind Spencer Friends". The IT Crowd In the season three episodes "Are We Not Men?" and "Calendar Geeks", Roy (Chris O'Dowd) wears t-shirts of a pixellated Kermit the Frog and Bert and Ernie. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia In the season one episode "The Gang Gives Back", Dee (Kaitlin Olson, who guest starred in a Late Night Buffet pilot) wears a yellow pantsuit, and her friend Mac tells her she looks like Big Bird. In the season three episode "Mac is a Serial Killer" a pimp named Pepper Jack mistakes Dee for one of his prostitutes. Her brother Dennis offers to buy her back for seven dollars and a Fraggle Rock thermos. Pepper Jack agrees, enthusiastically saying he loves the show. The Jamie Foxx Show In the season one episode "Break Yourself, Fool," Jamie and Braxton become robbery hostage at a bank. One of the robbers refers to the two as Bert and Ernie. Connections * Ruth Buzzi as Judge Jackson in "I've Fallen and I Won't Get Up" * Michael Clarke Duncan played an inmate in "A Little Red Corvette" * Jamie Foxx played Jamie King and Tyrone Koppel * Savion Glover played Nile in "Taps for Royal" * Gladys Knight as Janice King in "Save the Drama for your Mama" and "Always and Forever" * Sherri Shepherd played Sheila * Ben Vereen played Royal in "Taps for Royal" Jessie * In one episode of the Disney Channel comedy series, entitled "Glue Dunnit: A Sticky Situation," Emma mentions Mrs. Chesterfield has more feathers in her outfit than Big Bird. *In the same episode, Ravi interrogates his sister Zuri as a suspect. To get a confession, Ravi promises candy. In agreement, Zuri tells him, "I'm about to squeal like Miss Piggy. Judging Amy * In the season 5 episode "Motion Sickness" Kyle are having his morning coffe and asks a bunch of plushes if everyone sleept well among them are a Ernie, Big Bird and Cookie Monster. Later in the episode Donna asks Kyle to hand her a Elmo plush. ;Connections * Amy Brenneman played Amy Gray * Karle Warren played Lauren Cassidy * Tyne Daly played Maxine Gray * Cheech Marin played Ignacio Messina * Jon Polito played D.A. Gerald Abner * Jane Lynch played Perkins Just Shoot Me! * In the season 3 episode "Steamed" Jack refers to the tenant above his office as Oscar the Grouch. * In the episode, "Puppetmaster," Maya starts dating a guy, Steven, who is a puppeteer on a children's show. When Maya asked Steven how he got started with puppets, Steven replies he was obsessed with Sesame Street in college and how Cookie Monster's talking made sense when you are stoned. Maya says that Oscar the Grouch must have made him paranoid, and Steven mentions that Big Bird look delicious. ;Connections * Tyra Banks appeared in "Nina Sees Red" * Bernie Brillstein was executive producer on the series * Steve Carell played the Border Control Agent in "Funny Girl" * Snoop Dogg appeared in "Finch in the Dogg House." * Elliott Gould appeared in "Hot Nights in Paris" * Melissa Joan Hart played Krissy in "A&E Biography: Nina Van Horn" * Mark Hamill appeared in "The List" * David Hasselhoff appeared in "The Burning House" * Jay Leno appeared in "Secretary's Day" and "Liotta? Liotta!" * Ray Liotta appeared in "Christmas? Christmas!" and "Liotta? Liotta!" * Jon Lovitz played Nina's husband in "A Simple Kiss Of Fate" * George Lucas appeared in "It's Raining Babies" * Ed McMahon appeared in "Finch on Ice" * Megan Mullally played Stephanie Griffin-Cooper in "Amblushed" * Stephen Root played the corporate therapist in "Blush Gets Some Therapy" * Amy Sedaris played Betsy in "The Two Faces of Finch" * Brooke Shields played Erlene in "Erlene and Boo" * French Stewart played Steven in "Puppetmaster" Kids in the Hall In one sketch from season 5, a little boy is waiting for the Chicken Lady (Mark McKinney) to finish riding a quarter horse at the mall. He asks "Are you Big Bird?" and the Chicken Lady replies, "No, but I want to meet him, 'cause the Bearded Lady says they call him Big Bird 'cause he's got a really big--" at which point the boy's mother prevents the Chicken Lady from finishing the sentence. ;Connections *Frank Meschkuleit puppeteered the cat in the 2010 miniseries Death Comes to Town. *Dan Redican served as a story editor and producer. *Sandra Shamas was a troupe member during the troupe's formative years. King of the Hill *'"Plastic White Female"' - Hank and Peggy are arguing over whose fault it is for how their son Bobby turned out. Hank accuses Peggy of letting Bobby watch "all them Muppets! ... They got frogs kissin' pigs - what the hell did they think was gonna happen?" *'"Goodbye Normal Jeans"' - Peggy overhears Hank watching a Thanksgiving Day parade on TV with Bobby. She hears Hank say to Bobby, "That Miss Piggy balloon has the same hairdo as your mother." *'"Stressed for Success"' - In a discussion about the presence of pop culture in academics, Boomhauer points out that Oberlin College has a course on the Muppets. *'"Edu-macating Lucky"' - Lucky comments on Luanne's sense of humor: "I'm datin' a regular Fozzie Bear." *One episode was titled It's Not Easy Being Green. ;Connections *Christina Applegate played an Attorney in "My Hair Lady" (2004) *Tom Arnold played Norm Glidewell in "Megalo Dale" (2003) *Jason Bateman played Dr. Leslie in "The Petriot Act" (2005) *Laura Dern voices Katherine *Snoop Dogg played Alabaster Jones in "Ho, Yeah!" (2001) *Carmen Electra played Angela in " Boxing Luanne" (2003) *Sally Field played Junie Harper in "Hilloween" (1997) *Brendan Fraser played David Kalaiki-Alii in "Peggy Makes the Big Leagues" (2000) and Irv Bennett/Jimmy Beardon in "Gone with the Windstorm" (2005) *Paul Giamatti voiced Mr. McKay in "It's Not Easy Being Green" (2001) *John Goodman played Tommy in "Serpunt" (2007) *Vince Gill played Assistant Pastor Larry in "Peggy's Fan Fair" (2000) and Boomhauer's Singing Voice in "The Bluegrass Is Always Greener" (2002) *Jeff Goldblum played Dr. Vayzosa in "The Substitute Spanish Prisoner" (2002) *Michael Keaton played Trip Larsen in "Pigmalion" (2003) *Heather Locklear played Ms. Donovan in "Old Glory" (2000) *Lindsay Lohan played Jenny Medina in "Talking Shop" (2004) *William H. Macy played Dr. Rubin in " Pregnant Paws" (1998) *Debra Messing played Mrs. Hilgren-Bronson in "Get Your Freak Off" (2002) *Mary Tyler Moore played Reverend Karen Stroup in "Revenge of the Lutefisk" (1999) *Brittany Murphy voiced Luanne Platter *Kathy Najimy played Peggy Hill *Willie Nelson played himself in "Hank's Got the Willies" (1997) *Alan Rickman played King Philip in "Joust Like a Woman" (2002) *John Ritter played Eugene Grandy in "The Son That Got Away" (1997), "What Makes Bobby Run?" (2000), and "Witches of East Arlen" (2003) *Chris Rock played Roger 'Booda' Sack in "Traffic Jam" (1998) *Ben Stiller played Rich in "That's What She Said" (2004) *Meryl Streep played Aunt Esme Dauterive in "A Beer Can Named Desire" (1999) *Randy Travis played himself in "Peggy's Fan Fair" (2000) *Danny Trejo played Enrique in 17 episodes *Travis Tritt played Walt in "Livin' on Reds, Vitamin C and Propane" (2003) *Fred Willard played a voice in "Lupe's Revenge (2001)", Officer Brown in "New Cowboy on the Block" (2003), Ranger Bradley/Reclining Hippie in "Phish and Wildlife" (2004), and Officer Brown in "Doggone Crazy" (2008) and "The Accidental Terrorist" (2008) *Henry Winkler played himself in "A Rover Runs Through It" *Reese Witherspoon played Debbit in "Hanky Panky" and "High Anxiety" (2000) The King of Queens thumb|300px|right|Arthur talks to Carrie about Sesame Street *In the second season episode "Flower Power," Doug (Kevin James) takes Carrie (Leah Remini) to Coney Island to the carnival fair booths. One of the game booths has a Ernie doll. *In the third season episode, "Twisted Sitters," Doug and Carrie are watching Deacon and Kelly's kids while they are out of town. When Doug came back from work, Carrie told him that she and the kids were watching Elmopalooza three times in a row and fielded some tough questions about Bert and Ernie's relationship. *In the sixth season episode "Secret Garden," when Carrie sees Spence (Patton Oswalt) in his bathing get-up (a shower cap, blue robe and large scrub brush), she claims "he looks like Ernie, from Sesame Street." *In the eighth season episode "Sold-Y Locks," Robert Goulet tells Doug that he once performed in a Muppet special with Jamie Lee Curtis in which she sang a haunting duet with Fozzie Bear. *In a later season eight episode, "Four Play," Carrie and Arthur (Jerry Stiller) share the following exchange: :Arthur: I've dealt with this type of character when I worked as a production assistant on a little show called Sesame Street. :Carrie: You worked on Sesame Street? :Arthur: Sure, from March of '76 to mid-March of '76. Anyway, I can't name names, but I had a similar situation with a large bird with an even bigger ego. :Carrie: Big Bird? :Arthur: You said it, I didn't. ;Connections *Leigh-Allyn Baker plays Jessica in episode 902 "Affair Trade" *Peter Boyle plays Frank Barone also in episode 109: "Road Rayge" *Erik Estrada appeared in "Gorilla Warfare." *Joe Flaherty plays Father McAndrew, priest at the Heffernan's Church *Brad Garrett plays Robert Barone in episode 109: "Road Rayge" *Florence Henderson in episode 308: "Dark Meet" *William Hurt in episode 425: "Shrink Wrap" *Kevin James plays Doug Heffernan *Robert Klein in episode 211: "Sparing Carrie" *Ricki Lake plays Stephanie Heffernan, Doug's sister *Sam McMurray plays Supervisor Patrick O'Boyle, Doug's boss *Anne Meara plays Veronica Olchin, Spence's mother *Jenny O'Hara plays Janet Heffernan, Doug's mother *Donny Osmond in episode 110: "Supermarket Story" and episode 217: "Meet By-Product" *Doris Roberts plays Marie Barone in episode 119: "Rayny Day" *Eric Roberts in episode 314: "Paint Misbehavin´" *Ray Romano plays Ray Barone in episodes 109: "Road Rayge", 119: "Rayny Day" 208: "Dire Strayts" and 810: "Raygin Bulls" *Pat Sajak appears in episode 317: "Inner Tube" *Adam Sandler in episode 909: "Mild Bunch" *Steve Schirripa in episode 116: "S'Ain't Valentine's" *Ben Stiller in episode 425: "Shrink Wrap" *Jerry Stiller plays Arthur Spooner *Nicole Sullivan plays Holly Shumpert *Vanna White appeared in episode 317: "Inner Tube" The Knights Of Prosperity *'"Pilot"' - When Eugene wants to enter the building to find out which key fits Mick Jagger's appartment, Esperanza has to distract the doorman that stays behind, while the other doorman goes for a cup of coffee. When he leaves the building, this is referred to as "Big Bird has left its nest." The L.A. Complex * In the episode "Help Wanted" the character of Nick Wagner (Joe Dinicol) refers to his boss Scott Cray (Ryan Belleville), who allowed him to take the blame for bringing drugs to work and get fired for it, as "...a Muppet without its fur." * In the episode "Make It Right" the character of Raquel Westbrook (Jewel Staite) refers to the two filmmakers Cam (Kristopher Turner) and Kevin (Jordan Johnson-Hinds) as "Bert and Ernie." Last Comic Standing Season 6: *In the "international audition" episode, an Israeli prop-comic does an imitation of Grover by placing a blue wig on his head and wiggling around. *In episode 9, the comics have to look for props for a prop comedy routine. Marcus finds a blue dishwashing glove, and remarks, "This is what happens when Cookie Monster was lonely and he didn't listen to his parents ..." Late Night with Seth Meyers Late Night with Seth Meyers is a talk show hosted by Seth Meyers, who took over from Jimmy Fallon in 2014, after Fallon became host of The Tonight Show. On the episode of June 11, 2014, Meyers performed a bit called "Late Night Trading Cards," where Meyers opened packs of humorous trading cards and shared the statistics on the back (much like a sports card) with the audience. One pack was a "Pig Pack," which featured famous fictional pigs. The final card in the stack featured Miss Piggy. The statistics read: "Hair Color: Blonde. Eye Color: Blue. Favorite Color: Pink. Sexual Preference: Green." Connections * Fred Armisen is the leader of The 8G Band, the show's house band. Let's Make a Deal Let's Make a Deal is a game show which has aired in various incarnations since 1963. On the episode of November 16, 2009, the audience helps Wayne Brady count $800 to a contestant who refused a deal (which turned out to be a Zonk!). He stops at $500, the audience continues counting, and Wayne remarks, "It's like Sesame Street for grown-ups or something" On the episode of October 26, 2012, the second game involved an audience poll using three multiple-choice questions. The third question was "Cookie Monster" or "Monster Truck". The correct answer was Cookie Monster which the contestant guessed correctly. On the episode of February 19th, 2014, after a contestant returns to his seat, Wayne quips about how he dances like a Muppet. On the episode of March 10th, 2014, the second game involved an audience poll using three multiple-choice questions. The second question was "Bert" or "Ernie". The correct answer was Ernie (which the contestant missed). Connections *Lance Bass played the game on Gameshow Marathon. *Gilbert Gottfried appeared in a Celebrity Zonk! in a Gameshow Marathon episode. *Ricki Lake hosted the show Gameshow Marathon which featured Let's Make a Deal in one of the episodes. *Kathy Najimy played the game on Gameshow Marathon. *Leslie Nielsen played the game on Gameshow Marathon. Life's Too Short Life's Too Short is a BBC comedy series featuring Warwick Davis who plays a fictional version of himself. *In a promo for the series, Ricky Gervais is sitting on a stairway with Davis dressed as a frog. Gervais says that he had the opportunity to combine two favorite things in fiction: Robin from The Muppets and Warwick Davis, who comments that he's just glad that he didn't bring the puppeteer. Connections *Helena Bonham Carter *Johnny Depp *Liam Neeson *Right Said Fred The Listener In the episode "Lockdown", Osman 'Oz' Bey (Ennis Esmer) comforts the daughter of a quarantined patient with food. Leaving her with the plate, he suggests: "Can you keep an eye on them, make sure there's no Cookie Monsters running around?" Little Britain * In the pilot episode, Marjories Dawes was asking a fat kid what names the bullies at school call him (suggesting the names in a mocking tone), she asked him if they called him "Pigs in Space." * In Season 3 episode 6, Linda insultingly described a group of multi-ethnic or physically diverse students as "the cast of Fraggle Rock." Little Britain USA *In Season 1, episode 6, Ellie-Grace, while sharing love sentiments with her mother before parting with her for a short time, tells her mother that she loves her more then "Sesame Street". *In Season 1, episode 6, Marjorie Dawes asked her fat-fighters groups about nicknames they get called. She asked if they get called "Pigs in Space" (with the same echoing intonation used by the Announcer). ;Connections *Rosie O'Donnell played herself in the first episode Living Single * In the episode, "Stormy Weather," Max is watching television and shouts, "I will tell you how to get to Sesame Street. You take Puke-Avenue." ;Connections *Kim Fields played Regina Hunter *Gladys Knight played Odelle Jones in "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "One Degree of Separation" *Queen Latifah played Khadijah James *Phill Lewis played J.T. in "U.N.I.T.Y." *Ed McMahon appeared in "Crappy Birthday" *Sam McMurray played Marco McCulloch in "Misleading Lady" and "To Catch a Thief" *Isaiah Washington played Dr. Charles Roberts in Season 4 *Flip Wilson appeared in "Crappy Birthday" Luther * In Series 2, Episode 2, Alice Morgan tells John Luther they can travel the world as a duo: "Yin and Yang. Bonnie and Clyde. Bert and Ernie." Malcolm in the Middle *'Malcolm's Girlfriend' - After recently breaking up with a cute girl, Malcolm decides to "go back" and play in the moon bouncer at the birthday party for his little brother Dewey's new friend. As he does, the Sesame Street Theme plays (the 1998-2001 version), and then suddenly stops when Malcolm wrecks the moon bouncer. *'Cheerleader' - A subplot involves Dewey wanting a Tickle Me Elmo-type doll called Sleepy-Time Herbie, a blue aardvark. They are very expensive and can be ordered by a special TV offer, and Dewey hallucinates the Herbie talking directly to him from the TV. Once he gets the Herbie, he imagines it saying "Break me." *'Lois Strikes Back' - While Malcolm argues with his mom, he asks her if it felt good to cut through Elmo's neck. *'Standee' - Hal tries to make peace with the garbageman, but Reese brings him a new bag of garbage and remarks, "Hey Oscar, here's your lunch!" ;Connections *Jason Alexander played Leonard in "Future Malcolm" (2003) *Dakota Fanning played Emily in "New Neighbors" (2001) *Cloris Leachman played Grandma Ida *Christopher Lloyd played Walter in "Family Reunion" (2002) *Hayden Panettiere had a recurring role as Jessica in some episodes. *Andy Richter played Dr. Kennedy in "Clip Show" (2002) *Susan Sarandon played Meg in "Company Picnic" (2002) *Florence Stanley played Mrs. Griffin in "Old Mrs. Old" (2001) Mama's Family In the season one episode, "Positive Thinking," Eunice gets angry when she finds out most of her lines for a play were given to a scene-stealing actress named Sally. When Sally says it is lucky that the theater would let Eunice on stage, Eunice replies back, "Well, I don't see you on Broadway, Miss Piggy!" ;Connections * Carol Burnett played Eunice * Imogene Coca played Gert in "Aunt Gert Rides Again" * Richard Dawson appeared in "Family Feud" * Harvey Korman played Ed Higgins and directed some episodes. * Jerry Reed played Leonard Oates in "The Return of Leonard Oates" * Alex Trebek appeared in "Mama on Jeopardy!" * Betty White played Ellen Jackson Martin In the fifth season episode, "One Flew Over the Hoochie's Nest," Martin Payne (Martin Lawrence) tries to rescue Pam James (Tichina Arnold) from the mental hospital after being mistaken for her twin cousin Tammy. At the mental hospital, Cole Brown, Martin's friend, and his girlfriend, Shanise McGullicuddy, are watching the TV. When Shanise notices that Sesame Street is on, Cole asks his girlfriend, "Was Big Bird a boy or a girl?" Also when Martin is bringing food for Pam's party and makes a joke about her, Pam calls him " Tickle me Earmo." ;Connections * Shaun Baker appeared in "Snow White" * Halle Berry appeared * Coolio appeared in "All the Players Came" * Kim Fields played Monica in "Radio Days" * David Alan Grier played The Reverend Leon Lonnie Love * Sherman Hemsley played the rude DMV clerk in "D.M.V. Blues" * Rebecca Lobo appeared in "Banging Hard in the School Yard" * Whitman Mayo appeared in "All the Players Came" * Richard Pryor appeared * Lou Rawls appeared in "California, Here We come" * Christopher "Kid" Reid appeared in "Forever Sheneneh" * Little Richard played the exterminator in "Three Men and a Mouse" * Chris Rock played Sheneneh's disrespectful date in "The Love Jones Connection" * Mr. T appeared in "Boo's in the House" * Billy Dee Williams appeared in "The Break Up" The Martin Short Show In the third episode, "A Hippo Never Forgets," Martin tries to get onto The Lovey Show (a Barney spoof). His agent tells him he can instead get him a guest spot on Sesame Street, doing a song and dance with "that big bird...what's his name?" ;Connections *Andrea Martin plays Alice *Steve Martin plays himself in "The Steve Martin Show" *Martin Short plays a fictionalized version of himself and other celebrities *George Wendt plays Lovey in "A Hippo Never Forgets" *Fred Willard plays Martin's agent in "A Hippo Never Forgets" Mary Shelley's Frankenhole On the second season of the Adult Swim animated comedy about Dr. Victor Frankenstein and the world of the monsters, Count Alongwithme (a spoof of Count von Count) has become a regular character of Dracula's vampire entourage. Men at Work In the season one episode "Plan B", Gibbs (James Lesure) and Tyler (Michael Cassidy) gets a discount on a gym membership by pretending to be a gay couple. They are having difficulties figuring out how gay they need to act. Tyler thinks it should be like Bert and Ernie: "You are not sure they are gay, but you can't prove they are not". Gibbs agree and calls Tyler "Bert". Afterwards Tyler tells Ernie (Gibbs) to keep his Rubber Duckie‎ in his pants, after Gibbs was taking a closer look at one of the women that passes by. The Mentalist A procedural drama on CBS with some comedic elements centering on Patrick Jane, who formerly posed as a psychic, but became a consultant for a team in the California Bureau of Investigation following the murder of his wife and daughter by a serial killer. In an episode of the program's second season, "Red Bulls" (11/14/2009), a member of another team refers to Wayne Rigsby (one of Jane's co-workers) as "Bert." Talking about it with his partner, Cho Kimball, Kimball reveals that he already knew that they were being referred to jointly as "Bert and Ernie." Rigsby asks if this bothers Kimball, but he says it doesn't because "Ernie's the clever, handsome one." In the episode "Rose-Colored Glasses" (01/14/2010) from season 2, the team investigates an incident inside a high school that happened 20 years earlier. During a conversation between LJ and Phil (at their joint igh school reunion), LJ asks Phil if anyone still calls him "Frog Man." Phil answers "Pretty much everyone calls me Phil, except for my son who calls me dad." LJ replies, "You fathered a kid? Go, Frog Man! Wait - does he play the french horn too? Because if he does, then you could call him Frog Boy, or, Kermit!" ;Connections: *John Aylward played Professor Stutzer in the first season episode "Red Brick and Ivy" *Eugene Byrd played Russell Bigelow in the second season episode "Red Letter" *M. C. Gainey played Pete in the third season episode "Cackle-Bladder Blood" *Bob Gunton played Alexander Harrington in the second season episode "Red All Over" *Jon Polito played Duesterberg in the second season episode "Red Herring" *Raphael Sbarge played Hollis Dunninger in the season two episode "Redemption" Mike & Molly *In the episode, "Molly Gets a Hat," Mike's mother, Peggy, gives Molly a hat as a present of goodwill. When Molly doesn't like the hat, Mike gives the hat to his police partner Carl's grandma. Carl tells Mike that his grandma loves ugly hats and that she has one that looks like Bert and Ernie in a caged match. ;Connections * Billy Gardell plays Mike * Melissa McCarthy plays Molly The Millers * In the episode, "The Mother is In," the Miller family is about to watch a movie on TV, but their father hasn't ordered a movie yet. If he didn't pick, Debbie Miller's daughter, Mikayla, would make them watch The Muppets for the twentieth time. Debbie says Mikayla is too young to see Gonzo's nose. Somehow, Mikayla got the TV remote and the family had to watch The Muppets. The father replied that it is ok since the green frog is a hoot. * In the episode, "Sex Ed Dolan," Carolyn talks about how she made Tom look good. "I learn how to dress him and how to steer him towards his best jokes. It's basically the technique that Jim Henson used to turn a pig into a movie star." ;Connections * Will Arnett plays Nathan Miller * Roseanne Barr played Nathan's co-worker's mother in "Walk-n-Wave" * Andy Richter played Nathan's co-worker in "Walk-n-Wave" * Jeffrey Tambor played Ed in "Tomlandia" and "Sex Ed Dolan" Modern Family An ABC television series about the life of three interconnected families told in style, Modern Family premiered in 2009 and it has won the Best Comedy Emmy two years in a row. * In "Unplugged," while waiting for an interview at the pre-school, Cameron thinks that one of Lily's strong points could be the fact that "she always perks up whenever we watch Charlie Rose." Mitchell states it was a one-time occurrence, mainly because Elmo was a guest. * In "Hit and Run", Cameron and Mitchell mistakenly enter a showing of The Muppets. Believing they are going to watch a film with a lot of blood and gore, Cam tries to convince a father to leave the cinema before the movie starts. When he leaves, he explains to the other family that he was "always a fan the Muppets, especially of the two guys in the theater who wouldn't shut up". Once at home, they retell their story to their extended family. When their daughter, Lily, overhears that they were kicked out of The Muppets she responds sorrowfully, asking, "you saw the Muppet movie without me?" Mitchell tries to convince her that they only watched "just the first two numbers". ;Connections * Julie Bowen plays Claire Dunphy * Ty Burrell plays Phil Dunphy * Jesse Tyler Ferguson plays Mitchell Pritchett * Nolan Gould plays Luke Dunphy * Sarah Hyland plays Haley Dunphy * Nathan Lane plays Pepper Saltzman * James Marsden played Barry in "Slow Down Your Neighbors" * Ed O'Neill plays Jay Pritchett * Rico Rodriguez plays Manny Delgado * Eric Stonestreet plays Cameron Tucker * Danny Trejo played Gus in "Dance Dance Revelation" * Sofia Vergara plays Gloria Delgado-Pritchett * Fred Willard plays Frank Dunphy Mr. Show with Bob and David In a sketch from the first episode, co-creator/actor David Cross breaks character to complain about the sketch, claiming that "HBO spent more money on Fraggle Rock." MXC: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge Parody dubbing of a Japanese game show called Takeshi's Castle that aired on Spike TV from 2003 to 2007. One episode featured Sesame Street cast members going up against Las Vegas entertainers and casino workers. Mr. Sunshine In the pilot episode Roman asks Ben if he knows the song "The Rainbow Connection." ;Connections *Allison Janney played Crystal Cohen My Life as a Teenage Robot In the episode, "Puppet Bride," one of Mrs. Wakeman's old creations, a robot puppet named "Li'l Acorn," tries to make Jenny his bride and have revenge on Mrs. Wakeman for abandoning him. When Jenny refuses to marry Li'l Acorn, he sends out an army of puppets to make her marry her. The puppet army include puppet parodies of Ernie and Bert. ;Connections * Cree Summer voiced Stephanie (one episode), Tiff, Queen Vexus (one episode), Vicky, and QT2 My So-Called Life In the first season episode "On the Wagon," Rayanne Graff watches a Bert and Ernie sketch. Later, while waiting on line at a movie theater with her friends Angela and Rickie, Rayanne breaks out into the ''Sesame Street'' theme song. The Neighbors The Neighbors is an American television comedy series about a human family living among in a suburban community made up entirely of extraterrestrials. The series began airing on ABC in 2012. *In the season one episode "Merry Crap-Mas," as the leading alien family sits among the Weaver family's Christmas presents they wrongfully opened, Larry Bird says "Tell you what; let's watch [[The Muppet Christmas Carol|the Muppets' A Christmas Carol]] again! The Muppets, I like. I could really get down with the Muppets. Kermit: the frog's voice Jackie Joyner-Kersee, please press play!" Later on in the episode, Kermit singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (from A Red and Green Christmas) plays over a scene of Larry Bird contemplating having ruined Christmas for his neighbors, and Abby Weaver talking sense into him over a cup of tea. *In the season one episode "Cold War," Kermit the Frog is again a reappearing theme. Kermit can be seen twice, and heard several more times, singing "The Rainbow Connection" from The Muppet Movie, as Max Weaver likes to watch the frog sing his trademark song on a loop to feel better when fighting the common cold (prompting Abby to mutter "You're ruining Kermit for me" at one point). The New Normal The New Normal is an American television comedy series that began airing on NBC in 2012. In the pilot episode (originally aired on September 10, 2012), Jane Forrest launches a tirade explaining that Clay Clemmons' excuses had forced her to take drastic measures and seek a divorce. :Jane: (aiming what appears to be a lighter in the shape of a gun) You, Hello Kitty out. :Clay: Hey, that is a toy right? :Jane: You know something Clay. I have put up with you for the past nine years. I put up with your ridiculous Fozzie Bear impersonations, with your self diagnosed narcolepsy. :Clay: No, that's real, it's not just naps. Newhart A sitcom about a middle-aged couple who run an inn in Vermont, which ran on CBS from 1982 to 1990. In the episode "Dick the Kid," Dick Loudon spends a week at a Western ranch. On movie night, while the other residents want to watch High Noon, a tough resident wants to watch The Muppets Take Manhattan, and he almost gets his way until Dick takes a stand for the others. ;Connections *Jason Alexander guest starred in the episode "Courtin' Disaster". *Johnny Carson guest starred in the episode "Malling in Love Again". *Tim Conway guest starred as himself in "Dick and Tim" *Dave Coulier guest starred in the episode "The Prodigal Darryll". *Merv Griffin guest starred in the episode "Hi, Society". *Don Knotts guest starred in the episode "Seeing Doubles". *Will Mackenzie directed certain episodes. *Ed McMahon guest starred in the episode "The Nice Man Cometh". *Brandon Maggart guest starred in the episode "The Boy Who Cried Goat". *Bob Newhart played Dick Loudon *Don Rickles guest starred in the episode "The Nice Man Cometh". *Gedde Watanabe played Mr. Tagadachi in "The Last Newhart". NOVA scienceNOW * The November 21, 2006 episode of the PBS documentary series NOVA scienceNOW featured a segment on the development of sociable robots. One robot in particular, "Leonardo" developed by Cynthia Breazeal, is used in an on-camera study of recognition behavior. The tools used are an Elmo doll and a Cookie Monster puppet, which are presented to Leonardo and vocally asked to find the character by name. After a simple demonstration, the technician holds up Cookie Monster and asks Leonardo to find Elmo, but the robot cannot be tricked. (video) * The June 25, 2008 episode featured a segment about dark matter. As experts study what dark matter is, host Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses the ambiguity surrounding what the scientific community uses to describe the material that makes up 85% of the universe. The term has been applied ambiguously because the material is unobservable with current methods. Because of this, the label could just as easily have been called Ernie and Bert. (video) (The episode also features Wikia founder Jimmy Wales in a segment about statistics). One Tree Hill An hour-long young adult drama that premiered on the WB in September 2003. Set in Tree Hill, a fictional town in North Carolina, it revolves around half brothers Lucas and Nathan Scott (played by Chad Michael Murray and James Lafferty). * In a season 3 episode, Peyton (Hilarie Burton) tells Pete Wentz that she was worried that he would become her Mr. Snuffleupagus, after he arrived at the cabin that they are staying in a few days late. When Pete questions what a Snuffleupagus is, Peyton tells him the story of Mr. Snuffleupagus, and how only Big Bird could see him. * In a season 4 episode, Lucas is showing Glenda his impression of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. Glenda, not knowing who he is impersonating, guesses that he is impersonating Elmo. * In a season 5 episode, Jamie (Jackson Brundage) talks to Brooke (Sophia Bush) about what color he wants his racecar. He says his parents want it red like Elmo, but he wants it blue, like Grover. * In a season 6 episode, Victoria (Daphne Zuniga) is helping Sam (Ashley Rickards) pick out a dress for Peyton's baby shower. Victoria picks out a green dress for Sam, but Sam doesn't take it, since it makes her look like Kermit the Frog. * In a season 8 episode, Nathan tests out the new stage by singing "Mahna Mahna." The recording from The Muppet Show is used. ;Connections * Bill Cobbs played Gus in "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream," part 1 (2008) * Nick Lachey appeared as himself in two episodes (2009) * Kelly Collins Lintz played Alice (five episodes, 2008) * James van der Beek played Reese Dixon (four episodes, 2008-2009) Oh Madeline Short-lived 1983-84 ABC sitcom starring Madeline Kahn. In the episode "Ah, Wilderness," Madeline and her husband Charlie are stuck in the woods at night. They hear the sound of a bullfrog, which they affectionately refer to as "Kermit." Orange is the New Black In the season two episode "Hugs Can Be Deceiving", Grace asks her sister, "Suzie, you want the Chipmunks or the Muppet Babies sleeping bag this time?" She answers, "I'll take the Muppets tonight." ;Connections * Jason Biggs plays Larry Bloom * Kaufman Astoria Studios serves as a filming location Pawn Stars A reality show on the History Channel centered around the employees of the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the items brought into the shop to be sold. In the season eight episode, "Truly Trivial," Austin "Chumlee" Russell uses a book of trivia to try and stump shop owner Rick Harrison. One question concerns Cookie Monster's real name. Rick responds, "Sid," to Chumlee's bewilderment. Penn and Teller: Bullshit! On a fourth season episode of the Showtime documentary show entitled "Numbers," interviews are shown with two Washington, D.C. think-tank consultants. They are introduced by name and narrator Penn says "We asked them why there are so many songs about rainbows. They had no idea. They did know something about the national debt though." Perfect Couples In the first episode of the NBC comedy series, Amy attempts to play "Celebrity" on game night, and immediately bombs after giving a clue: "He's a Muppet ... he's a frog ..." Portlandia * Episode 2 of season 4 features Fred and Carrie in Bert and Ernie beds. ;Connections * Fred Armisen plays various characters * Kyle MacLachlan plays the mayor * Jeff Goldblum plays Adam The Proud Family Animated series that aired on the Disney Channel from September 2001 to August 2005. The show centered around an African-American teenager, Penny, her family, and her friends. Episode 214: Pulp Boot Camp: Penny's family sends her to boot camp because they fear she is becoming a bully, and she steals cookies from a little girl there. The sergeant catches her and says "Well, well. We have ourselves a little Cookie Monster." ;Connections *Soleil Moon Frye voiced Zoey *Kyla Pratt voiced Penny Proud *Tara Strong voiced Bebe Proud and Fluff Reba * In the episode "The Good Girl", when Barbara Jean claims that she put a scratch in Van's car, and is worried about what he will say, Kyra says "It's true! He gets this look on his face where his two eyebrows murge together, and he looks like that Muppet who lives in the Trash Can!" (referring to Oscar the Grouch). ;Connections *Nell Carter played Dr. Susan Peters in three episodes *James Denton played Dr. Morgan in two episodes *Dolly Parton played Dolly Majors The Ricky Gervais Show * In the episode "Art" of HBO's animated comedy (based on the podcast with the same name), Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant explain that the only way to improve Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol was doing it with the Muppets and they go on to suggest new story ideas with the Muppets, such as The Muppets' Schindler's List (with Fozzie and Gonzo), Schindler's List in Space and Miss Piggy's Choice. File:Rickygervaismuppets2.png File:Rickygervaismuppets3.png File:Rickygervaismuppets4.png Rugrats Animated television show that first aired on Nickelodeon in 1991. This series focuses on the point of view of a group of babies, including Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, Phil and Lil, and Angelica Pickles. In the episode "Toys in the Attic," Tommy and Angelica's grandparents, Boris and Minka, argue over which one of them will turn on the "Sesame Seed" (Sesame Street). ;Connections *Craig Bartlett was a writer on the series during the show's initial 1991-1993 run *Justine Bateman voiced an art patron in the episode "Opposites Attract/The Art Museum" (1999) *Dan Castellaneta voiced a lawyer in "Pickles vs Pickles" and Jonathan in "Jonathan Babysits" *Christine Cavanaugh voiced Chuckie Finster *Margaret Cho voiced Lt. Klavin in The Rugrats Movie (1998) *E.G. Daily voiced Tommy Pickles *Lisa Loeb performed the song "All Day" for The Rugrats Movie soundtrack (1998) *Phillip Namanworth wrote songs for the series *Pat Paulsen voiced the garbageman in "Feeding Hubert/Spike the Wonder Dog" (1993) *Pat Sajak guest starred as himself in Chuckie is Rich (1993). *Tara Strong voiced Dil Pickles and Timmy McNulty *Cree Summer voiced Susie Carmichael Rules of Engagement * In the 2009 episode, "Buyer's Remorse," Russell says to the owner of the Island Diner, "Shouldn't you be in a balcony insulting Muppets?" * In the 2010 episode, "Harassment," Timmy challenges Jeff to a game of cricket to porve it isn't a sport for wimps. During the match, Russell says, "Dude, you're about to be struck out by Scooter from the Muppets!" ;Connections *Joan Collins appeared in "Les-bro" *Heather Locklear played Barbara in two episodes *Patrick Warburton plays Jeff Running Wilde In the episode "One Forward Step", Steve suggests to Emmy that she use the laundry chute in the house, saying "You know there are people at the bottom of that thing? They've got their own subterranean world, kinda like Fraggle Rock." ;Connections *Will Arnett played Steve Wilde *Andy Richter played Dan Thorngood in "The Junior Affair" A Russell Peters Christmas In the stop motion animation segment "Little Russell Saves Christmas", Russell Peters' mother sends him to the store for "A Loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter". ; Connections * Michael Bublé as himself * Jon Lovitz as himself Samurai Pizza Cats On Saban's English dub of Samurai Pizza Cats, an episode features a giant Buddha statue that has a bird's face. One of the characters remarks, "A Big Bird? Go back to public television! We don't want your kind here!" The Sarah Silverman Program * In the last episode of the series, "Wowschwitz", Brian and Steve steal a gun from a cop and replace it with a banana. Referring to him as "Banana Cop" throughout the episode, the two sing a rendition of "Mahna Mahna" replacing the words with "Banana Cop." The episode ends with Sarah's dog going back in time to kill Hitler, preventing the Holocaust. In the present, an old man asks, "What never happened?" Brian: "The Holocaust." Steve: "Do doo do do do!" ;Connections * Sarah Silverman as "Sarah Silverman" * Jimmy Kimmel appeared in two episodes * Andy Richter appeared in "Fetus Don't Fail Me Now" Sealab 2021 * In the episode "Splitsville," one of the rock bands at the Battle of the Bands is named the Ocean Bottom Nightmare band, a reference to the Riverbottom Nightmare Band in Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. * In the season 4 episode "Craptastic Voyage", the crew undergoes a mission of entering Captain Shanks' body and destroying a tumor. Stormy comments, "Wow, a shrink ray. Just like that time on Muppet Babies! You know, when Scooter had spinal meningitis?" This is a reference to the Season 3 episode "Scooter's Uncommon Cold". Shortly afterwards, Stormy sets up a talk show similar to The Tonight Show, and fails to show a video clip from the episode. ;Connections * Erik Estrada voiced Marco the entire series. * Kid 'n Play appear as themselves in an episode sponsoring the fictional action movie Tinfins. The Secret Lives of Vampires A 2005 documentary produced for television by NBC studios looks at vampire culture and the history of such characters as Dracula. Examples include Count Chocula cereal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sesame Street’s Count von Count. Video footage of the sketch with the Count counting his mail is featured, as well as a photo of a stage version of the character. Secret Mountain Fort Awesome This series did poorly on Cartoon Network, causing them to pull it from the schedule after episode 8 of season 2. Episode 9 was titled "Labyrinth". It was unaired until picked up by Netflix. According to Wikipedia: "When Gweelok wishes that Jerry, the Goblin King, would come take his annoying friends away, he realizes how much he misses them and has to enter the twisted world of the Labyrinth to rescue them. This is the first time that Gweelok has legs for dancing." Shameless The 2011 US version of the UK series airing on Showtime set in Chicago's South Side Back of the Yards neighborhood. * From "Three Boys": ::Veronica: What good is a dress if I don't have a priest? ::Debbie: You could hire an actor. Remember the guy who played Elmo at my birthday party? ::Fiona: You remember that? ::Debbie: He took his head off. It was traumatizing. ;Connections * William H. Macy plays Frank Gallagher * Joan Cusack plays Sheila Jackson Shining Time Station A 1989 to 1997 PBS show that introduced Thomas the Tank Engine to America * From "Mr. Conductor's Movie" :: Stacy: Now Schemer, don't you think you should wait & see what the director needs? :: Schemer: Little lady, let me tell you what the director: needs he needs a star name because star names sell tickets! John Wayne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Big Bird, and now Super Schemer! * In the episode "How to Have Style à la Schemer" (from the Schemer Presents video spin-off), Schemer does a Kermit the Frog voice when he shakes his mannequin to make it look like it's talking ;Connections * Ringo Starr played Mr. Conductor in the first season. * Olga Felgemacher puppeteered Didi, the drummer of the Jukebox Band. * Leonard Jackson played Harry Cupper in the first season and the special "One of the Family" * Gerry Parkes played Barton Winslow in the second & third season. * Paul Fierlinger animated the songs "Don't Be Afraid", "Baking a Cake" & "Follow Directions" in season 1. * Wayne Moss directed various episodes. * Myra Fried played Ms. Smith in a "Schemer Presents" short. * Joe Raposo composed the theme song on the show $#*! My Dad Says * In the series pilot, Ed has to retake his test for driver's license at the DMV. When Ed has to retake his eye exam, he says to the DMV applicator, Tim, that he shouldn't have to identify letters on the chart. Ed tells Tim that he has been driving for sixty years and that he has never been rear ended by a gigantic letter E. Tim replies, "Clearly you never driven down Sesame Street." ;Connections *William Shatner played Dr. Edison Milford "Ed" Goodson III *Nicole Sullivan played Bonnie Sister, Sister * In the episode, "Private School," Lisa is on the phone trying to get her money back from her pledge from public television. After much talking, Lisa got offended and said, "I never heard that kind of language on Sesame Street." ;Connections * Sherman Hemsley played Jimmy "Soupy" Campbell * Brittany Murphy played Sarah * Fred Willard played Carl Mitushka The Smoking Room A British comedy first aired on BBC Three in 2004, focusing on the conversations of characters while on their smoke breaks, all shot inside their office's smoking room. In episode 3, "Paintball," the manager's assistant Janet is trying to get other employees to sign up for a company paintballing event: :Janet: No, what I was getting at is - I hope sign-up sheet doesn’t end up covered in jokey names. According to the one downstairs, the only people planning to go paintballing are Marge Simpson, Osama Bin Laden, Barbara Windsor and The Bear in the Big Blue House. Spaceballs: The Animated Series In the season one episode, "Revenge of the Sithee", two aliens resembling the Martians are seen in the NasPod race crowd. Also, a blue creature resembling Kermit is seen during the Sithee presentations. Later, Yogurt remarks "It's not easy being chosen...or green for that matter." ;Connections *Mel Brooks created and wrote the show and voices Yogurt and President Skroob *Rino Romano voices Lone Starr Spin City In the season 1 episode, "Starting Over," Mike refers to Carter and Stuart as Bert and Ernie. In the Season 5 episode, "Lost and Found," Caitlin tries to describe Charlie to her friend, Sam, as "warm, funny, and kids love him." Sam replies that Caitlin had just described Elmo. ;Connections * James Carville appeared in "Catcher in the Bronx" * Stephen Colbert played Frank in "The Competition" * Mos Def appeared in "Gentleman's Agreement" * Michael J. Fox played Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty * Kathie Lee Gifford played herself in "Radio Daze" * Jeff Gordon played himself in "The Kidney's All Right" * Richard Kind played Paul Lassiter * Heidi Klum played herself in several episodes in Season 3. * Ed Koch played the city councilman in "The Competition" and as himself in "Family Affair" * Queen Latifah played Robin in "Yeah Baby!" and "Sleeping with the Enemy" * Christopher Lloyd played Mike Flaherty's political mentor in "Back to the Future IV: Judgment Day" * Heather Locklear played Caitlin in Season 4-6 * Paula Marshall played Laurie Parres * Marlee Matlin played a leading advocate for deaf rights in "Deaf Becomes Her" * Rosie O'Donnell played herself in "The Image Maker" * Conan O'Brien played himself in "Dead Dog Talking" * Regis Philbin played himself in "Radio Daze" and "How to Bury a Millionaire" * Lou Diamond Phillips played Mike's childhood friend in "An Officer and a Gentleman" * Denise Richards played Jennifer in several episodes in Season 6 * Martin Sheen played Charlie's father in "Rags to Riches" * Jon Stewart appeared in "Wall Street" * Meredith Vieira played herself on The View in "The Marry Caitlin Moore Show" * Raquel Welch played Paul's Mom Sports Night In the episode "The Apology," Casey asks Dan if the Muppets are cool. Dan replies that they are. ;Connections *Josh Charles played Dan Rydell *William H. Macy played Sam Donovan *Yeardley Smith played Malory Moss *Meredith Vieira played herself State of Georgia In the episode "Know When to Fold 'Em", Georgia Chamberlin (Raven-Symoné) and Jo (Majandra Delfino) are wearing chicken mascot-style costumes; Georgia quips "We look like Big Bird's illegitimate kids." Another first season episode was titled "It's Not Easy Being Green". Step by Step In the episode "2 B or Not to Be" Frank and JT are performing a scene from "Hamlet" in the kitchen. After the performance, Dana remarks "Yeah, I didn't know Bert and Ernie did Shakespeare". Cody answers "I'm not surprised, Bert's a very versatile actor". Mark says "Cody, Bert is a sock!" Still Standing Judy Miller, one of the show's lead characters, is sometimes seen wearing Sesame Street T-shirts. ;Connections *Mark Addy played Bill Miller *Justine Bateman played Terry *Tim Doyle was a writer and executive producer of the show. *Richard Kind played Dr. Nathan Gerber *Tom Martin was a writer and supervising producer of the show. *Kevin Nealon played Ned Halverson *Sally Struthers played Louise Miller Supernanny In the sixth episode of the first season, entitled "The Bailey Family" (originally aired on February 28, 2005), a 38-year-old father named Bill Bailey and his 2-year-old son Billy Bailey are reading a Elmo's World book about food during bedtime at 8:00pm. Supernatural * A fourth season episode of the CW series was titled "The Monster at the End of This Book." * In the fifth season episode "Free to Be You and Me" Dean Winchester tells Castiel, "there are two things I know for certain. 1) Bert and Ernie are gay. 2) You are not gonna die a virgin." SuperNews! *In the second season episode, "Twilight of the Vampires", the Count is shown to be the head vampire in the vampire takeover of Hollywood. *In the second season episode, "Soggy Doobies and Strippers", Barack Obama hosts a Job Fair. He shows one possible job in the bad economy is become the President of Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzi claims he's like a puppet in the system and firing him would be like "firing Kermit the Frog." Joe Biden then complains that Obama has now canceled The Muppet Show. ;Connections *"Weird Al" Yankovic appears as himself in the episode, "Weird Al Colabo Jam", and teamed up with the show's creators to create his "Ringtone" music video. Talk Soup Entertainment show on the E! Network that features clips of other talk shows. During the John Henson era (mid to late 90's; no relation) a recurring character called McDermott the Frog was used, which was simply a commercially available Kermit puppet. Taxi A sitcom about New York City cab drivers, which ran on ABC from 1978 to 1982, and on NBC from 1982 to 1983. In the episode "The Great Race," Alex picks up two nuns who are fighting over what movie to see. One of them wants to see The Muppet Movie, and the other one wants to see The Sound of Music. One of the nuns says, "I can't stand that little frog!" After Alex tells them to pick one, they finally decide to see The Muppet Movie. ;Connections *Ted Danson played Vincenzo Senaca in "The Unkindest Cut" (1982) *Tony Danza played Tony Banta *Danny DeVito played Louie DePalma *Tom Hanks played Gordon in "The Road Not Taken, Part 1" (1982) *Judd Hirsch played Alex Rieger *William Hootkins played a liquor authority agent in "Jim's Mario's" (1983) *Carol Kane played Simka Gravas *Andy Kaufman played Latka Gravas *Julie Kavner played Monica Banta Douglas in "Tony's Sister and Jim" (1980) *Lassie played "herself" in "Fantasy Borough, Part 2" (1980) *Christopher Lloyd played "Reverend" Jim Ignatowski *Penny Marshall played herself in "Louie Moves Uptown" (1983) *Mandy Patinkin played the new father in "Memories of Cab 804, Part 2" (1978) *Julie Payne played one of the nuns in "The Great Race" (1979) *Rhea Perlman played Zena Sherman *Tom Selleck played Mike Beldon in "Memories of Cab 804, Part 2" (1978) *Martin Short played Mitch Harris in "Jim Joins the Network" (1981) *Jeffrey Tambor played Congressman Walter Griswald in "Elaine and the Lame Duck" (1979) *Hervé Villechaize played himself in "Fantasy Borough, Part 1" (1980) *George Wendt played the exterminator in "Latka the Playboy" (1981) Teen Titans *In the season three episode, "Bunny Raven... or... How to Make A Titananimal Disappear," this animated DC Comics spin-off series features two elderly characters who sit in a theatre box and make wisecracks about the mock variety show being performed on stage. The manner in which they laugh at their particular flavor of jokes is reminiscent of, and likely a direct reference to, Statler and Waldorf. Most of the episode's third act is a homage to The Muppet Show, complete with a spoof of the theme music and a parody of Scooter. *In a "New Teen Titans" short, the Titans appear in a kids program, "Kidz Korner 4 Kidz," which contains references to Sesame Street (including a "One of These Things"-style segment and a Two-Headed Monster-inspired scene). ;Connections *Dave Coulier voiced Tramm *Kevin Michael Richardson voiced Trigon, Mammoth, and See-More *Tara Strong voiced Raven, Kole, Kitten, Jinx ("Titans Together"), and Gizmo ("Revved Up," "Titans Together") *Russi Taylor voiced Melvin and Timmy Tantrum *Wil Wheaton voiced Aqualad Terrifying Times The Daily Show correspondent John Oliver's television special of his stand-up comedy act premiered on Comedy Central on April 21, 2008. He opens the show citing a disclaimer about his nationality; "Primarily, I've gathered you here this evening to tell you this: that, it's not easy being British... as Kermit so nearly sang." This Hour has 22 Minutes On the October 23rd, 2013 episode, Nancy Kent interviews 2 men dressed in green leotards who boo opposing players penalty box at the Rogers Centre in Vancouver, BC. Before the interview, Kent says "Let's take a look and see if it's not really easy being green" In a Raj binder segment he talks about the Oscar nods, and an image of Oscar the Grouch is shown behind him. Tiny Toon Adventures An animated variety series produced by Steven Spielberg, starring a group of young cartoon characters who attend Acme Looniversity to study under the original Looney Tunes stars. * In the season 2 episode "Toon Physics", in the "Once Upon a Star" segment, Elmyra's Barbette doll (parodying Barbie) demands fashions from Paris, not Sesame Street. ;Connections * Dan Castellaneta voiced Jeffries and Harvey * Tim Curry voiced Princes Charles and Reginald * Carol Kane voiced Ollie in "A Quack in the Quarks" * Edie McClurg voiced Hampton's mom, Winnie * Brian Stokes Mitchell voiced Vinnie the Deer in 'Mr Popular's Rules of Life' * Rob Paulsen voiced Fowlmouth, Arnold, Concord Condor, and others * Cree Summer voiced Elmyra Duff * Frank Welker voiced Gogo Dodo, Furrball, and others. * Jonathan Winters voiced Hampton's dad, Wade Toonsylvania An animated variety series similar to Animaniacs and produced by Steven Spielberg featuring Dr. Vic Frankenstein with his assistant Igor and their dim-witted Frankenstein monster known as Phil. The show featured rotating segments with other characters like a family of zombies called the Deadman and a bratty girl named Melissa Screetch. In the Night of the Living Fred episode, "Bang," the family zombies were about to have dinner when the house started to shake and Fred shouted, "Snuffleupagus is that?" ;Connections * Nancy Cartwright voiced Melissa Screetch * Matt Frewer voiced Deadgar Deadman (first season) * Sandy Fox voiced Darla Doily * Brad Garrett voiced Phil * David Warner voiced Dr. Vic Trophy Wife In season one's "The Wedding - Part One" Kate (Malin Åkerman) shows Pete (Bradley Whitford) the wedding scene from The Muppets Take Manhattan as an example of what she'd like their wedding to be like. ;Connections * Florence Henderson plays Pete's mom * Megan Mullally plays Kate's mom TV's Most Censored Moments The program, an original presentation of the now-defunct Trio Channel, briefly touches on Sesame Street's state-wide banning from broadcast in the state of Mississippi for one month during 1970, due to its integrated neighborhood. Two and a Half Men *In the episode, "The Spit-Covered Cobbler," Alan tells Charlie that Kandi may not be sophisticated, but she's street-smart to which Charlie replied, "Sesame Street-smart." *In the episode, "And the Plot Moistens," Alan talks to Charlie that he has trouble communicating to Kandi after lovemaking and Charlie replies that he should have thought of that before he started boinkin' a girl with the IQ of Tickle Me Elmo! *In the episode, "The Two Finger Rule," when Charlie, Alan, Gordon, Herb, and Jerome were talking about their first date, Herb told them he didn't start dating till he was in college at freshman year. Herb says he was a geek in high school and how everyone called him "Big Bird" that when he went to college, he stopped wearing yellow shirts and lowered his standards. *In the episode, "818-jklpuzo," Alan and Melissa had just finish skinny dipping and then they started talking to each other. :Melissa: Alan, what do you say we take a hot shower and unshrink the Snuffleupagus? :Alan: He'll be fine, it's Bert and Ernie I'm worried about. I think Bert has ascended to my rib cage. :Later Alan talks to Charlie after Melissa leaves to take a hot shower. :Alan: Now that we're seeing each other again the fact that she lives with her mom presents a problem. :Charlie: Why, because you tickled Mom's Elmo? :Alan: It was just light necking. I never touched her Elmo. *In the episode, "Bite Me, Supreme Court," Marty's friend (played by Steve Lawrence) says that he once did a show with Miss Piggy and says, "You know there's a guy under her?" ;Connections *Jason Alexander played Dr. Goodman in "The Straw In My Donut Hole" *Eugene Byrd played Lenny in "Pilot." *Lynda Carter played herself in "Justice in Star-Spangled Hot Pants" *Tim Conway played Marty Pepper's friend in "Bite Me, Supreme Court" *Miley Cyrus played Missi in "You Do Know What The Lollipop Is For" and "Avoid the Chinese Mustard" *Conchata Ferrell plays Berta *Gary Halvorson directed episodes. *Teri Hatcher played Judith's sister Liz in "I Remember the Coatroom, I Just Don't Remember You." *Allison Janney played Alan's on-line dating partner in "My Damn Stalker." *James Earl Jones appeared himself in "The Devil's Lube." *Carol Kane played Melissa's mother. *Richard Kind played Artie Pliskin in "Is There a Mrs. Waffles?" *Cloris Leachman played Norma in "Madame and Her Special Friend." *Heather Locklear played Alan's divorce attorney Laura Lang in "No Sniffing, No Wowing." *Jane Lynch plays Dr. Linda Freeman *Jon Lovitz played Charlie's arch nemesis in "The Unfortunate Little Schnauser." *Jenny McCarthy played Teddy's "daughter", Courtney *Brad Paisley played Derek in "Oh WALD-E, Good Times Ahead" *Kimberly Williams Paisley played Gretchen *Jon Polito appeared as himself in "He Smelled the Ham, He Got Excited." *Denise Richards played Lisa in "Merry Thanksgiving" *Martin Sheen played Rose's father in "Sleep Tight, Puddin' Pop." *Brooke Shields played Danielle in "That's Summer Sausage, Not Salami." *Kevin Sorbo played Andy in "Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Burro" (2006) *Harry Dean Stanton appeared as himself in "Back Off Mary Poppins." *Steven Tyler appeared as himself in "Who's Vod Kanockers?" Ugly Betty In the first season episode "Fey's Sleigh Ride", Marc says of Betty, "The poor cow has no idea we only invited her so people could see she really exists. She's like a real-life Snuffleupagus, only hairier." ;Connections *Kristin Chenoweth appeared as Diane in "East Side Story" (2007) *Jesse Tyler Ferguson played Dr. Gabe Farkus in two episodes (2010) *Lisa Howard appeared as a Dominatrix in "Plus None" (2009) *Lindsay Lohan played Kimmie Keegan in four episodes (2010) *Debi Mazar appeared as Leah Feldman in two episodes (2006) *Bernadette Peters appeared as Jodie Papadakis in five episodes (2009) *John Tartaglia played Paolo in "Smokin' Hot" (2010) *Vanessa Williams played Wilhelmina Slater Undateable In the episode, "Let There Be Light," Justin and Danny's neighbor, Kevin, asked if the two are married couples. When Justin and Danny denied it, Kevin says he knows the Bert and Ernie situation. ;Connections * Bill Lawrence is executive producer of the show Undergrads In the episode "Drunks" Gimpy tells Mum to set up a discussion as to "whether Yoda sounds like Grover or Miss Piggy." Unfabulous In one episode, the main character, Addie Singer's brother Ben is sick. Their mom says his favorite film as a kid was The Muppets Take Manhattan. Unhappily Ever After A sitcom created by Ron Leavitt, who also created Married with Children, which aired on the WB from 1995 to 1999 which centered on Jack Malloy, the father of a dysfunctional family, and his best friend, a stuffed animal rabbit named Mr. Floppy voiced by Bob Goldthwait. *In the episode, "High and Dry," Jack Malloy and his wife, Jennifer Malloy, suspected that their son, Ryan, is doing drugs, when they find some white powder in his car and on the towel of his bed. Since they are not smart enough on how to parent their children, Jenny said they have to go to the video store and also said, "Sesame Street taught them to read, Barney taught them to hug. Surely there's got to be some hip happening puppet out there with more parenting skills than we have." *In the episode, "Exorcising Jennie," Mr. Floppy talks about if he was a ghost, he would be in Elmo's dressing room with a knife. Then he looks to the viewer and says "Hey Elmo, this murder is brought to you by the letter K...as in Kermit, my next victim. That skinny little tap-dancing toad." ;Connections *Erik Estrada appeared in "Eating Hollywood." *Kristanna Loken played Sable O'Brien *Hayden Panettiere played as little girl in "Little Ice Cream Shop of Horrors." *Allan Trautman puppeteered Mr. Floppy and also played Mr. Dunn (four episodes) and other teachers. Veep In the episode, "Helsinki", Dan asks Mike, "How do you do that Fozzie Bear happy guy 'Wocka Wocka' bullshit to get the press to like you?" ;Connections *Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer The Vicar of Dibley In the 1996 Easter special (sometimes entitled "Easter Bunny"), Geraldine is explaining the truth behind the Easter Bunny to Alice. The vicar (while trying to break it gently to her) says: "Now at 10 your mother sat you down, and she told you that Kermit was really just an old windsock..." In a sketch entitled "Celebrity Party", aired as part of a Comic Relief (UK) special in 1999, Geraldine and Alice prepare for their party with Johnny Depp. :Geraldine: Johnny's spent his whole life being surrounded by exotic birds. :Alice: Yeah, like Paris and Britney and Big Bird from Sesame Street. ;Connections *John Bluthal played Frank Pickle *Dawn French played the Rev. Geraldine "Gerry" Granger Kennedy Victorious In the episode "Terror on Cupcake Street", Beck (Avan Jogia) comments that "we're not on Sesame Street." Cat (Ariana Grande) claims that she loves Sesame Street and begins to sing the theme, but is immediately shut up by Jade (Elizabeth Gillies). ;Connections *Perez Hilton guest starred as himself in "Wi-Fi in the Sky." Video On Trial A Canadian show where 5 people pick music videos and make harsh (yet funny) comments on them and at the end they make verdicts of whether the singer(s) is guilty or not. *In "Video On Trial: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Hump de Bump," Boomer Phillips said he was waiting for Oscar the Grouch to pop out of a garbage can. *In "Video On Trial: The Killers - Read My Mind," Fraser Young's verdict was for having sex with a "Muppet" and sentenced them to maintain a distance not less then 100 feet from Miss Piggy. The Venture Bros. In the season four episode "Perchance to Dean" of the Adult Swim animated series, Dermott Fictel noted that he saw Fight Club in 1999 instead of The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, the age-appropriate fare his mother had intended him to see. The Walking Dead The Walking Dead is an American post-apocalyptic horror television series that centers on a small group of survivors led by Sheriff's Deputy Rick Grimes and his family. In the first season episode "Tell It to the Frogs," survivors Shane and Lori have an exchange about frog's legs with Shane stating, "We'll feed these folks cajun-style Kermit legs." With Lori retorting, "I would rather eat Miss Piggy." The Wayans Bros. In episode 17 of season 5, "Crazy 4 You," Shawn and Marlon both fall in love with the same girl. Shawn tells Marlon that he doesn't stand a chance to date her since she is a psychiatrist. Marlon thought Shawn said ventriloquist, but when he heard the word again, it reminded Marlon of a psychiatrist name Sigmund Freud. Shawn is impressed and said to Marlon that eight years of Sesame Street paid off. ;Connections * Paula Abdul played Sasha in "Dream Girl" * Bill Cobbs played Fred in "The Black Widower" * En Vogue appeared in "I was En Vogue's Love Slave" * Sherman Hemsley played Mr. Stone in "It's Shawn! It's Marlon! It's Superboys." * Gary Halvorson directed episodes * Phill Lewis played T.C. in Season 2-5 * Jerry Springer appeared in "Talk is Cheap" * Fred Willard played Dick Ferndale in "All in the Family Feud" Weeds *In episode 8 of season 4, Celia Hodes, manning the register at Maternity World while manic on uppers, entreats a customer to settle for a green shirt rather than the blue she wants. "Green is the color of spring," effuses Celia in a suspiciously Kermit-y voice. *In episode 10 of season 5, Andy invites Dr. Audra on a date to a jazz concert. Doubting he knows anything about jazz, she dares him to name one jazz musician, and he can only think of Dr. Teeth. :Audra: He's a Muppet. :Andy: He's a jazz Muppet! Will & Grace * The fifth season episode, "All About Christmas Eve," features the following exchange: :Jack: In order for us to forgive you, you'll perform the following task. You must sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas." :Will: I can do that. :Jack: As the Count, from Sesame Street. :Will: [Romanian accent, imitating the Count] On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... That's one, one day! Ah ha ha! :Jack and Karen laugh and clap * In the sixth season episode "I Do. Oh, No, You Di-in't" Beverly is sorry she missed a wedding ceremony. Karen says, "Probably just as well. There were some children there, and they get frightened when something your size isn't covered in Muppet fur." ;Connections * Alan Arkin played Martin Adler * Alec Baldwin played Malcolm Widmark * John Cleese played Lyle Finster * Harry Connick, Jr. played Dr. Marvin "Leo" Markus * Taye Diggs played James Hanson * Seth Green played Randall Finn in "Friends With Benefits" * Neil Patrick Harris played Bill in "Girls, Interrupted" * Gregory Hines played Ben Doucette * Rosie O'Donnell played Elliott's mother, Bonnie. * Bernadette Peters played Karen's sister, Virginia "Ginny" Delaney. * Lily Tomlin played Margot * Debra Messing played Grace Adler * Megan Mullally played Karen Walker Wipeout *In the first episode of the fifth season, "Deck The Balls" (a Christmas-themed episode, aired December 8, 2011), one of the contestants imitated Elmo throughout her runs, earning her the nickname "Tickle Me". Earlier, new co-host Vanessa Lachey indicated that she thought host John Henson's father "invented the Muppets, right?" (Henson, unrelated to Jim Henson and not to be confused with his actual son John Henson, replied "Uh, no.") Wizards of Waverly Place *In the episode, "Justin's New Girlfriend," Alex complains to her brother, Justin, and best friend, Harper, about how much she hates silent movies. She remarks that it is not hard to go back and invent some voices in the movie, and that people on the internet do it all the time. She gives an example of a video she saw of Big Bird doing a Kanye West song. ;Connections *Moises Arias as Max's Conscience in "Monster Hunter," "Three Monsters," and "A Night at the Lazerama." *Bridgit Mendler plays Juliet van Heusen *Jake T. Austin plays Max *Cindy Crawford played Bibi Rockford in "Fashion Week." *Selena Gomez plays Alex *David Henrie plays Justin *Gary Owens voiced Corporate Ad/Ominous in "Saving WizTech." *Tiffany Thornton played Susan in "Movies" *Fred Willard played Mr. Stuffleby in "Make It Happen" and "Monster Hunter." WKRP in Cincinnati Sitcom centered around a rock-and-roll radio station, which ran from 1978 until 1982. In the first season episode "A Commercial Break," from 1979, Venus Flytrap and Herb Tarlek are auditioning jingle singers for an in-house commercial, and trying to coax shy Bailey Quarters into singing. :Venus: Come on, sing. Sing a song! :Herb: Sing out loud! Sing out strong! Sing of good things... ;Connections *Loni Anderson played Jennifer Marlowe *George Gaynes played Henri in the episode "Jennifer's Home for Christmas." *Edie McClurg played Lucille Tarlek in three episodes. *Julie Payne played Buffy Denver in the two-part episode "For Love or Money." Working Class Sitcom centered around Carli Mitchell (Melissa Peterman), a single mom from a rough and tumble background, trying to give her three kids a better life by moving them to an upscale suburb. In the episode "Short, Then Sweet," Carli tries to find a date on the internet to go to her boss' house warming party. When she finds out her date, Derek, is shorter than her, she feels a bit funny about going out with him. They soon open up at the party and made a few funny jokes about each other's height. In one of the jokes, Derek calls Carli, "Big Bird." ;Connections *Ed Asner played Carli's neighbor, Hank Greziak. Wonderfalls In the episode "Muffin Buffalo," lead character Jaye is playing Pictionary with her family and her friend Pat. While Jaye's sister draws frantically, Pat shouts out guesses as to what she's drawing: "It's a frog! He's singing! 'Rainbow Connection!' " Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous In the episode "Zach Stone is Gonna Be a Famous Chef," Zach mentions that all great celebrity chefs are famous only because of their personalities, not their cooking skill. His list includes "the Swedish one from The Muppets." Zoey 101 In the episode "Quinn Misses the Mark", Michael Barrett (Christopher Massey) claims that a horse ate the cookies meant for Logan (Matthew Underwood) and James (Austin Butler). James, annoyed, calls Michael "Cookie Monster". __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:TV Mentions